Start 'em young

I hoped that starting the dental visits when my kids are young would curb the fear and the cavities. I've only had partial success with this theory...genetics has it's way of making itself known! (Sarah got her mother's teeth...so sorry) While the older kids had their cleanings and check-ups, I thought it would be a good opportunity to introduce Jenna to the comforts of the dental chair (something her mom knows a little too well). After watching her siblings, she quickly got into the chair and opened her mouth right up! I was so impressed that she did so good. Dr. Dan (as we call my brother) got a quick look. Hopefully when we have a more extensive visit with her (i.e. cleanings, x-rays and heaven forbid, cavities) she'll be ready.

Her Special Day

Julie is the primary journalist in our family (she does a great job on this blog stuff). She rarely features herself in any of her posts and I thought it was only appropriate to add an entry for her. She celebrated her 3Xth birthday last week. I decided to refrain from posting her age although most of you most likely know it already. On the evening of March 14th, Julie took Sarah to a local production of Beauty and the Beast. Since that day was so busy with activities I asked if we could celebrate her B-Day on the 15th. I can tell she was a bit disappointed but conceded nonetheless. While she was gone the boys and I wrapped some gifts, hung some streamers and put candles on her favorite cake (the lemon creme cake from Olive Garden). I had the boys stay up with me so that we could surprise her when she got home. We got the camcorder ready and shot her as she came in. I'm pretty sure she was pleasantly surprised.

Julie is the ingredient in our family that makes things turn out perfect. She typically is the one that makes our kids birthdays so special. IMO, she deserves to have a day where she can fell celebrated as well and not just because it's her birthday. WE LOVE YOU, MOM/JULES!!

Another milestone for Josh

I am quickly finding out that we are reaching many milestones with Josh right now! Last week, he had the opportunity to go to the Jordan River Temple to do baptisms. He was so excited to have the chance to go inside the temple. This was such a special opportunity to have a conversation with Josh about temples. I am amazed that I have a son that is maturing to quickly...soon to be a young man.

Girls Night Out....with Sarah

Sarah and I went to a community production of "Beauty and the Beast" on Friday night. It was so fun to be together and such a delight to see her so taken with the music, costumes and the acting. Two girls from our ward were in it: Cassie played 'Babette' the feather duster and Kelly played 'Belle.' They (and the whole cast) really did a phenomenal job....I was really impressed! Kelly was born to play Belle...she sounded just like Belle (and didn't miss a note either!). When the cast was singing a particularly long note, Sarah commented, "They can hold their breath for a long time." She also said, "Their acting is really good!" So fun to hear her observations. After the play, many of the cast members greeted people in the foyer. She was so excited to have her picture taken with Cassie and Kelly. She was taken by the whole thing she asked Cassie to take her on stage and backstage. She loved seeing the set close up and getting a look at all the costumes backstage. What a fun night!

Glory Hallelujah!!!!!!!!

And an Amen, Sista!!!!!! I have finally finished the staircase and I love it! It was every bit as hard as I thought...and then some. Mostly because of all the sanding I did to prep for staining. Even though the finished product took a turn from my original plan, I actually like it better this way. (If I didn't have the metal spindles I really would've wanted the walnut/white combo, but w/ what I have, I think this was the best route) It came out super smooth and even. I wanted it to look like it had always been this way (i.e. the builder did it)...and I think I came pretty close. I finished it up last Friday and spent the weekend cleaning. Holy moly....you wouldn't believe all the over-spray dust. It was everywhere. No joke.

Eventually, (I'm a little burnt out right now) I would like to paint a darker color so there is more of a contrast and pop between the walls and railings (and mantel). I would LOVE suggestions of paint colors from anyone....please! I need it to be pretty neutral since I will most likely have to repaint most of the house (open floor plan + rounded corners= no good starting/stopping points!)

BEFORE ...................&..................AFTER

I've also inlcuded a picture of the mantel. Not loving how it's decorated right now...another day, another time.

Upon returning home this morning...

I found this taped to my computer desk. Love the illustration Sarah included. Hmm...I think it's pretty good evidence that my off-track kids were really "enjoying" each other while I was gone. I asked Sarah why there was a note for Josh left by my computer. She replied, "I didn't mean it. Josh and I had an argue, but we're over it now." Well, I'm glad they worked it out on their own....here's to another two weeks off track!

No sweeter surprise...

than seeing these bloom! Ahhhhhhhhhh....this brings cheer to my soul like nothing else (sorry, sounds corny, but it's true). Hands down, spring is my favorite time of year. Granted it's still only 40 degrees outside, but these flowers mean warmth and beauty is right around the corner. Can't wait to plant my Zinnias, tomatoes, basil, and cilantro (my gardening repertoire is still very limited...maybe I'll broaden it this year). Ohh and flowers in pots for the porch...I can't wait!

Love it, love it, love it.

Did I say I like spring?

WHAT THE???????!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy cow, I cannot believe we are doing this already. What you may ask? We just attended JR. HIGH registration with Josh. I vividly remember the hallowed halls of KJH like it was yesterday and now it's my child's turn to enter the cruel world we call Jr. High. As much fun as I had in my Jr. High days, I don't think there is a more awkward and insecure time, don't you agree? As we attended the meeting, I couldn't help but feel that I was getting ready to throw my child to the dogs. I know, I know....we all did it and I know he will be fine.

And yes, I was a completely dorky mom snapping a photo in front of the school. Luckily, he doesn't know any better (yet) to be too embarassed to allow me to do such a thing! :)

Fabulous weekend!

What a fantastic weekend in Phoenix! This last weekend we headed south to celebrate the marriage of my brother Ryan to Jodi. The gorgeous spring weather was such a nice break from the cold and snow here. After a looong drive, we arrived Thursday night. We had a great time visiting with my brother Jeff, who rode down with us. Friday, the girls got to shop and eat out...yummy fish tacos and great deals were found! That night we had a rehearsal dinner at "Monti's"...it was great to meet Jodi's family and see so many other family members and friends that we don't see often.
Their sealing took place at noon on Saturday in the Mesa Temple. Just as we were waiting to go into the chapel I ran into Annalisa Semadini!! I haven't seen her since...well, a really, really long time! It was such a sweet surprise to see her and quickly reunite. The ceremony was beautiful...they were both so relaxed and calm. We are just thrilled to have Jodi be a part of our family...she is such a sweet, wonderful person. The weather was just perfect as we waited outside for the bride and groom (about 80 degrees!). After waiting, Ryan finally peeked his head out to let us know she was almost ready. Finally they came through the revolving door and right back in...that is so Ryan. Jodi was glowing and Ryan looked so proud. From her hair to her dress, Jodi looked stunning. Really, I think that is the most beautiful dress I've ever seen. I know my pics don't do it justice. It was originally a strapless dress that had to be built up. It was a soft ivory and with the rhinestones it had such a vintage feel to it. Later that evening we met at Gainey Ranch Country Club for the dinner/reception. It was so beautiful. We had the best time dancing to the fabulous wedding singer (really, he was good!) It was so cute to see Josh dancing with Sarah. Sarah was so excited to meet her "new cousins" (Jodi's nieces). They had so much fun together. I have to give kudos to my kids, they were so well behaved (esp. Jenna who hadn't napped). Needless to say, they were beyond tired at the end of the night and quickly feel asleep.

Sunday we had a brunch at my Aunt Janis' house, went to the Temple's visitor center and had a BBQ with my family at Heidi and Dave's. While at the visitor center, they had the most amazing photography exhibit by a local photographer, Mark Mabry. He creatively photographed recreated scenes from the life of Christ. Just beautiful...I'm so glad we saw it.

Monday morning, we went on the most beautiful hike in Fountain Hills (where Heidi and Dave live). I'll admit that I haven't always been a fan of "desert beauty, " but it really was beautiful. Later in the day, we hit In and Out Burger (mmmm!). The girls went shopping (of course!) and the boys headed to a spring training baseball game (A's vs. Angels). The day ended with the kids going to the movie with G'ma and G'pa and Chad and I went for sushi with Heidi and Heather.

We had so much fun this trip (minus Sarah throwing up all over me on the way home! lol). Heidi and Dave were the perfect host and hostess...thank you so much. We so enjoyed visiting family...especially catching up with aunts, uncles and cousins that we don't see often. We love you all and are so very grateful for the time we had together this weekend.

(this pic is for you Jackie!) >>

Debate Champ??

Who knew?! I certainly didn't! For the past month, Josh and his partner Tyler have been working on their debate platform. I just thought it was another school assignment, but apparently it was a 6th grade-wide program. Their topic was air quality and they were assigned to argue on the "negative" side. ( I never did debate so sorry if him not using the right lingo)Today was the big debate. Josh casually told me he had to take a shirt and tie to school and asked me to pick him up at 5:30. When I pulled up to the school there were tons of parents waiting to pick up kids...like I said, I didn't realize so many were involved. When Josh finally came out, he was grinning from ear to ear. As soon as he got in the car he said, "Mom, I can't believe we got first place for the "negs!" He also got another award (the name of which escapes me). He was so excited...great work, Josh! :)

Proof

Sometimes I just need proof that my kids do other things besides watch tv and play video games! ;) They play well together and can actually be quite creative. Like the day they decided to make an art gallery. They worked on paintings and sculptures and attached them to the playroom walls. The sculptures (which were ripped down before I got the photo) cracked me up. They created them by painting a picture, then they crumpled them up into various shapes and taped them to the wall. Too funny. I love seeing them do things like this.

Happy, Happy Birthday ANDREW!!

I can't believe it's been 9yrs since Andrew was born. It's amazing to look back and see the parts of his personality that were always there...even as a baby. Still content and sweet...just like he was as a baby. We often call him "Angel Andrew" and for good reason. He is also my most obedient child; almost always the first to answer or the first to get the job done. We are so glad he is part of our family. His twinkling eyes and sparkling smile light up a room and brighten our day. We love you, Andrew!

I think Andrew had lots of fun celebrating this year. Last weekend he got to spend the night with Grammy and Papa, then a party with friends on Friday. Andrew and I had fun shopping for the party favors and picking out the cake. At the party, the kids had fun eating pizza, painting animals, playing games (sucking up m&m's through a straw and doing little dares to earn their prizes). After the party he got to sleepover at G'ma and G'pa Jensen's house. He was thrilled to have his cousins Tyler and Conner join him. They had a blast playing some of the games he had gotten for his birthday and watching the movie Tyler gave him.

Plan *B*

Well, I've been sanding and prepping the railings for a month now. AND, I am admitting defeat. Not total defeat, but defeat to what my original intention was. Not sure if you remember, but I had wanted a combination of a dark walnut stain and white. I knew it was a HUGE undertaking and it was (and still is!). I was prepared for the amount of work I needed to do, I knew I had to get every ounce of finish off for it to take the stain....and I did. (In fact, my fingers got very raw and cracked from all the sanding). Unfortunately no amount of work and preparation could control how the wood would take the stain. I had finally reached the point that I thought I was ready to stain. My excitement was quickly deflated by what I saw. I hated it. I even tried a lighter stain. It wasn't the stain, it was the wood. I'm not sure if you can tell or not in the photo, but the wood took the stain very inconsistently. Weird wood flaws and marks were coming through. Not at all what I had invisioned. Yea, I was pretty disappointed...especially after all that work, but all is not lost. I will be painting it all white. I am pretty excited. I think it will give me the "crisp, light and bright" look that I want. Either way, I know I will like it better than what it was before...I think it will be more me. I will post when I wake up from the paint fumes!

Remember the road sign?

Turns out it was very apropos for our life right now. Chad reached a dead end of sorts at his job. While he was very committed and absolutely loved his job and boss, it just wasn't working and we knew it was time to move forward. I know Chad will really miss working with Patrick and hopefully their paths will cross again someday. We are so grateful for the new opportunity that has come to Chad. He was just hired at Ominture http://www.omniture.com/ It is a Utah-based software company in Orem. (we will not be moving) Thank you so much to JD Jeppson who passed his resume along. Chad is thrilled with this new opportunity. New being the operative word...this is something totally different for him. He is up for the challenge and thrilled to broaden his skill set.

Valentine's Day 08

Snow, cookies, school parties, heart pancakes, pink milk, heart brownies....I'm ready for bed! Happy Valentines Day!

(let me revise...free cookies from the lunch ladies at the school for the kids to frost at one party and I only brought apples to the other class party. The pancakes are add water! Believe me, I take the easy way out whenever I can. ;) lol)

Sugar cookies and more snow

Grammy came over this afternoon to make Valentine cookies

with the kids. As always, they are thrilled to have time with any

of their g'parents. Unfortunately, an afternoon snowstorm made

for a record-breaking frosting session

(Yes, more snow).

The kids had a great time making a mess and eating cookies...thank you so much Grammy! :)

ETA: Wow, what a snowstorm. We got blasted. It was so much the amount of snow that was a problem, it was the WIND and the timing (afternoon rush hour) that it hit. It literally took Chad 4 hours to get home from work last night. He left Orem at 5 and got home at 9! In Alpine, there were 3 bus loads of kids that couldn't get home and had to spend the night at the school. People were even spending the night at gas stations. Craziness, pure craziness.

"The best-laid plans...." Part 2

Our efforts to honor President Hickley were not completely thwarted. Grandma Chris knew how disappointed we were last week after trying to attend the viewing. She called yesterday and suggested we meet her (and Aunt Sue) at the Salt Lake cemetery and leave some flowers at his gravesite. As we pulled up, the first thing Sarah said was, "Oh good, there's not a line!" Too funny. There were a few people there when we arrived and a few waiting when we finished, but it was very nice and peaceful. It was touching to see a few handwritten notes left behind. While we were there we also got to see my Uncle Tom's grave. I have fond memories of my Uncle Tom. Sadly he died much too young of melanoma. it was nice to take a moment to reflect on the lives of President Hickley as well as my uncle.

Well done, Mr. President

For the last several weeks, Andrew has been preparing for the 3rd grade "Wax Museum." Each child chose a person from history to do a presentation and written report on. Andrew excitedly chose Andrew Jackson for the sole reason that they share the name. He did lots of research online and from books. We learned a lot of interesting facts about our 7th President. Did you know he was a war veteran and an orphan by age 15? Unfortunately, he also supported the 'Indian Removal Act' which displaced Indians from their homes. We had a fun time learning about this rough and tumble President. Part of the report was dressing up as the person. I was rather perplexed as to how I was going to make Andrew look like a man from the 1820's, but it all worked out. I altered a suit coat from the DI ($8) by cutting off the lower half of the suit to bring it to the waist. I then attached the pieces I had cut off to that back to create the "tails" of the suit. A bit of fringe and gold buttons and viola! you've got Post-Revoluationary War jacket!

Yesterday the parents were invited to attend the "Wax Museum." It was soo fun to see the kids standing there, still as a statue, waiting for the parents to "push the button" so they could share what they had learned (Einstein, Anne Frank, Besty Ross, Ab Lincoln, Babe Ruth just to name a few). Well done, Andrew!

Little Miss Independent

Jenna is definitely 2 and definitely independent. She loves to...or should I say demands to get dressed herself. As these pictures show, she has an affinity for putting shirts and stretch pants on backwards. If I try to help, she immediately holds up her hand and says, "No!" Now, you'd think that if she was so good at pulling pants on and off by herself that she'd be good at doing it to go potty. Oh, if only I were so lucky. The other day, she came to me and asked if she could wear her princess panties. I replied that she needed to go potty first. Without hesitation, she conceeded, "Here's a diaper." She has also gotten quite good at tattling. She is quick to say, "Joshy did it." Often, nothing has happened and she just feels the need to be heard. Jenna also has a thing for scary movies. I guess this means I'm not a good mom. She has watched the "Goosebumps" movies soo many times (horrible, horrible acting btw). She affectionately calls it "Be-bumps." She also enjoys the movie "Monster House" and "Harry Potter." I can't believe I just admitted that. I guess that is what happens when you have older siblings watching these shows. Don't worry she still loves all the other great kid shows....especially "Little Einsteins" (which she calls "stein-steins" or "rocket"). In spite of her independent streak, she is still extremely cuddly and is attached to Daddy's hip whenever he's around!

Heavy Snow Warning...

Yep...lots of blowing snow.

Drifts are waist high.

Church was cancelled.

The sound of snowblowers fills the air!

"The best-laid plans..."

I have been suprised at how much a sense of loss President Hinckley's passing has brought to me. My heartaches that he is gone. I really wanted my kids to experience his passing...just as I did when I went to President Kimball's viewing. We tried, we really tried and boy, are we disappointed. We planned on going yesterday. The kids were dressed, but I couldn't find anyone to take carpool so we bumped our plans to today. Apparently the rest of Utah did the same. There were 3 lines going into the Conference Center. Naturally, we picked the longest, slowest one. After waiting in line for 1 1/2hrs the kids had had it (well, mostly Chad). Our toes were frozen and we were told we still had another 1 1/2hrs in line. After making friends with everyone in line around us, we decided to throw in the towel. Josh cried as we walked away(and Andrew is crying as I'm typing this). I assured him that President Hinckley knew we loved him and appreciated our efforts. I think it made the kids feel a little better to give the homeless man playing the accordian some money. ;) And would you believe our adventure didn't end there? We got on the wrong Trax train on the way home...headed to the UofU instead of Sandy. We had to back track our way downtown. As we were waiting at one of the stops, a man saw fit to pull out his girly magazine and shamlessly look at it...not hiding anything. Yes, he really did. The conclusion I came to was that while it would have been neat to go through the viewing, we can show our love appreciation for him just as well from the comfort of our own home.

ETA:

We just got done watching the funeral and we just wept. Josh was sobbing and was so upset he didn't want to go play in his basketball game. I was overcome with emotion as I saw his empty chair and watched him leave the Conference Center for the last time. The video tribute with chior singing at the end was just stunning. What an honor to be witness to his time as prophet. My eyes are red and my head hurts, but my heart is full of love and gratitude for him and the way he lived his life and led the church.