She's Goin' Back to Cali. . .

My Laenabug is back, and there's gonna be trouble. . Sing it! If I knew how to add little music notes here. . . there they would be. : )

Anyway, our girlie is back from her trip to Cali. I picked her up at about 1:30, just after lunch. On the way home, we exchanged the usual small talk. How did it go? Did you have fun? Is your phone finally working. . . ? Yadda yadda yadda. At one point there was a momentary lull, during which she casually mentioned:

"Oh. I should probably tell you . . that I might be in some guy's . . music video, dancing the Salsa."

Slight pause. Highly amused/slightly shocked laughter.

"What do you mean by that?!"

"Oh, well, DeHaan was getting his portrait drawn at Universal Studios, caricature, you know, and I was bored, so I asked such-and-such a boy if he wanted to swing dance with me, so we went over a little ways to a place where there was more room, cause everyone was crowded around Mr. DeHaan and the artist. . . And I showed him how to dance the Salsa. Then these 2 guys came up and one of them asked if I'd like a brief Salsa lesson. He had an accent. I think it was Spanish. So we danced the Salsa, and his friend apparently taped it, because they said it might not work . . because we were in the shade. A bunch of the kids came over and watched, and (big smile) some of the girls were jealous, because apparently the dancer guy was pretty cute!"

"Apparently?"

She looked up, with a tentative grin.

"You didn't notice. Hmm."

"Well. . ."

'She's goin' back to Cali, Cali, Cali. She's goin' back to Cali. Man, I don't think so.'

OH, yeah.

Not without Mama. : ) We should have a good time.

Cabin Fever and Sunday Sermons

It's a really gorgeous day out there. Bright sun, blue sky. The mountains are dusted with snow all the way to the foothills. You know, the Swiss Alps have NOTHING on the Rocky Mountains. Why travel all the way to Europe when you've got Park City and Sundance right here? : ) Last night it snowed again, if you can believe it. I don't mind, it's done that a time or two recently. . just the loose, wet, fluffy snow that melts instantly when licked by the sun. . . However, I am so ready for spring to be here. Easter came way too early this year. It's supposed to be in April. This is all just throwing me off. Imagine Mother Nature, and the cycle of the moon messing with MY SCHEDULE. It's unforgivable. Sigh.

Well, today's Monday, and for some reason I've got the Monday blues. Sigh again. I bet if we were up skiing I wouldn't have the Monday blues. . . Oh well. Back to the grind. Babysitting, and house cleaning, and all of that kind of stuff. That man of mine had better be planning some crazy cool kind of date for this weekend. . . Mama! I've got cabin fever.

p.s. We were asked to speak in church Sunday, yesterday. Here's a synopsis of my talk, which of course I added to during my most eloquent delivery. Lots of ad-libbing. Didn't entirely stick to the script. It went over pretty well. We had the whole family up there. All the kids read or recited something. . . (we had to bribe them of course) except Laena, that stinker, who was safe at Disneyland with the Choir kids. Bratzville personified, she is. Can you tell I'm jealous? : ) Well, sort of. I didn't envy her that long bus ride. . .

Well, here you go:

Families

March 30^th, 2008

Well, here we are. . Bro Dave Richards showed up on our door step Monday night, and asked if we would speak in church . . Laena must've overheard because she took off for California. I called Charlie at work, and he said, “Sure, I'd love to speak, if I wasn't going out of town.” I think he planned to stow away in the luggage compartment of one of the buses. Ha ha ha.

It has been a while since we've spoken in Sacrament meeting. Last time one of us was supposed to speak, about a year and a half ago, we decided to have a baby that week, so it's been a little while.

I'm gonna start out with a little bit of background info about our family. . . Charlie and I have been in the ward/our present home for 12 years. We have 7 children. We met in Provo. I had just come out here to Utah, and I was at the University Mall looking for a job. He happened to be in one of the stores, and I thought he worked there, so I asked if he was hiring. Now I take care of his kids. : ) About a year later, we were married. We immediately had our first baby, Laena, who is now 17, and then a year later we had our twin boys, Clint and Eric. I sometimes call them 'our triplets'. We've learned to space our children a little better since then. . . We have Tommy, Aleia, Jeffy, and Lincoln.

After we were married, we lived in Provo for a couple of years. Then we moved up here to Salt Lake. . Charlie works as a programmer/analyst for Coca-Cola, after driving truck for 14 years, and I stay at home. Of the 15 years we've been up here in Salt Lake, I've worked in the Primary for about eleven. (I'm not complaining.) (Well, maybe.) Charlie's been in the Scouting program for about 8 years. Cub Scouts, Blazer scouts, Boy Scouts. . . he does a lot of camping. Charlie went to school for a couple of years in Provo. He took a few years off, and then went back. Sorta had to start over. . I think he's been in school for a total of . . 9 years now, and he's still working on it. . .

There was a brief moment a couple of years ago where I was privileged to work in the RS. My favorite part about being in the Relief Society was the visiting. We went visiting every week. We were able to drop by and see how people were doing, and get to know them a little bit better. It was lovely to get to know everyone, to learn more about them; their interests, talents, challenges that they were facing. I really felt a sense of . . ward family.

We were asked today so speak on Families. I figured that was doable. I'm the oldest of 8 children, my mother had 8 kids, my grandma had 8 kids, I think her mother had 9. I can't imagine not centering my life around . . a family. One of my greatest fears as a young adult was that maybe I wouldn't ever be able to have any children. : ) Evidently those fears were unfounded. Now I should probably have accumulated at least some conventional wisdom by this time. . about families, and raising a family. . But the more I've learned, the more I've learned . . that I need to learn more. Pretty much, with the day-to-day struggles of having and raising a family, you just do the best you can, you keep on keepin' on, you listen to the brethren, try to follow their council, keep the commandments, and most of all, I'm learning to treasure every moment, because, over the years, I've learned that childhood doesn't last very long. Babies grow up really fast, life is fleeting, and time speeds on.

There are things that we can do to bring our families together. I've taken some quotes from a couple of talks that I foun, written by some of the apostles. When I was growing up, my parents tried really hard to have Family Home Evening, dinner together every night, family prayer, and scripture study. . And they pretty much pulled it off. . They did a really good job of making it happen. Charlie and I try to emulate this example with our own family. We probably don't do quite as well as grandma and grandpa, but we're working on it.

Elder Russell M. Nelson, in his talk “Set in Order Thy House”, said:

“Our family is the focus of our greatest work and joy in this life; so will it be throughout all eternity. . . And this is from the first presidency. 'We call upon parents to devote their best efforts to the teaching and rearing of their children in gospel principles which will keep them close to the Church. The home is the basis of a righteous life, and no other instrumentality can take its place or fulfill its essential functions in carrying forward this God-given responsibility.'

To set our house in an order pleasing to the Lord, we need to do it His way. We are to employ His attributes of “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness”

The Commandment:

With the Lord, families are essential. He created the earth that we could gain physical bodies and form families. He established His Church to exalt families. He provides temples so that families can be together forever.

We try in our family to have FHE, dinner as a family, bedtime stories, etc. We could probably do better. It's important that we all do our best to make these things happen, so that our families and our children can come together, and be strengthened, as they go through their everyday lives and face their own personal challenges.

In a letter signed by Presidents Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, and James E. Faust, they also described what parents might do: “we counsel parents and children to give highest priority to family prayer, family home evening, gospel study and instruction, and wholesome family activities. However worthy and appropriate other demands or activities may be , they must not be permitted to displace the divinely appointed duties that only parents and families can adequately perform”

Thursday afternoon, I went out to get the mail, and learned from a neighbor that there had been a bomb threat at the middle school. After a while we learned that the situation was under control, but it was still rather disconcerting to hear news like this. At moments like this, everything comes clearly into focus. Priorities right themselves, and everything else shrinks into insignificance. You have 2 thoughts: Family and home, home and family. You want to bring your family home, make sure everyone's okay. . .if you've had a disagreement, you want to reach out and fix it right then. Things become very clear. Nothing else matters. Everything else is just stuff.

Again from President Russell M. Nelson:

Brethren and sisters, material possessions and honors of the world do not endure. But your unions as wife, husband, and family can. The only duration of family life that satisfies the loftiest longings of the human soul is forever. No sacrifice is too great to have the blessings of an eternal marriage. By making and keeping sacred temple covenants, we evidence our love for God, for our companion, and our real regard for our posterity- even those yet unborn. Our family is the focus of our greatest work and joy in this life; so will it be throughout all eternity, when we can “inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, . . . powers, dominions, . . . exaltation, and glory.”

“These priceless blessing can be ours if we set our houses in order now and faithfully cling to the gospel.”

Well, I'm not quite over the hill, but I can sort of see over the other side. . . and I can look back, and again, I cannot imagine not centering my life around . . family. The alternative seems kinda lonely. I haven't been alone a lot, so I probably take some things for granted, and I know some people aren't necessarily right in the middle of raising a family, but regardless of your circumstances, even if you're not currently a husband and father, or a wife and mother, you can be a good daughter, brother, sister, nephew, grandson, a good friend. Making your family a priority, (immediate family, ward family, friends, neighbors, even your temple family, if you will, when you do work for our kindred dead) where ever a person might be in life, this gives them a sense of belonging. A sense of community, purpose, identity, unity.

This week we've had a few significant things happen in our family. Monday, my brother Mark and his wife had a new baby. A new little cousin. : ) Tuesday, Jeffy actually let me drop him off at a birthday party without throwing a fit. Wednesday Eric had a track meet, and Laena left for Choir Tour. Thursday Clint started working at Pizza Hut, and then there was that problem at the school. . . It usually works out that way. . We'll be going along with our lives, trying to take care of our day-to-day responsibilities. . . then something happens that makes us remember what's really important.

In th May 2003 Ensign Elder L. Tom Terry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said:

“May it be our resolve this year to build a gospel-centered home, a safe harbor from the storms of the adversary.

We need to make our homes a place of refuge from the storm,, which is increasing in intensity all about us.

In a world of turmoil and uncertainty, it is more important than ever to make our families the center of our lives, and the top of our priorities. Families lie at the center of our Heavenly Father's plan.”

Almonds and Carrot Sticks

Okay, so Charlie's kicking my butt. We decided a few weeks ago to seriously give this healthy living thing a shot. So far he's lost 12 lbs! He's actually given up caffeine for longer than 2 or 3 days . . No more than one soda a day at work. And he works for Coke! I'm at a loss for words. I'm really impressed.

I've lost 5 lbs, but I think that's partially due to the fact that I've been sick this week. Sigh. I don't seem to make it to the gym as much as I'd like to. I have been eating better, but with this gall bladder thing, I didn't think I'd ever see any results. I guess I need to kick it up a notch. . .

This is pretty cool, huh. : ) We're gonna get in shape just in time for summer! (Snort, chuckle.) Or at least get closer to our goals. . . Charlie, that stinker, happens to be genetically inclined toward athleticism. I, on the other hand, am not. Not so much, anyway. Back in the day, he used to run marathons cold turkey, soak in a hot tub, and be just fine. Me? I require a little bit of training. 6 months minimum just for my pathetic lungs. I'm prone to allergies, and it takes a lot of conditioning for me to run even a couple of miles. If I tried to run a marathon, I'd probably fall flat on my face about mile marker number 3. Tee hee hee. Sigh. Well, here we go. Almonds and carrots sticks, here I come. . . I suppose rabbit food grows on you.

But wait, 'tis cheat Friday! Ha ha ha ha ha! What's the number for Domino's? Do you think they'd take a Home Depot credit card? Woo hoo, but I'm excited! Because, you know, all of us out here in Utah . . could just live on pizza. : )

Yeah, Baby!

What a Day

I know I've already blogged today, but too much that has happened not to write anything.

To start off, yesterday my son Eric had a track meet down at Riverton High. Hubby Charlie went down there and watched the boy run his 400 meter, etc. Meanwhile, I was stuck in traffic, running our baby girl over to her work, and then to The Aquarium in Sandy so she could get extra credit for Physics. On the way there we saw an accident. On the way back we saw the car being towed, with air bags blown up. . who knows what happened to the people in it. . . As we got closer to our neighborhood, in front of K-mart, there was another car being towed. It had obviously been burned. It looked like the gas tank had caught on fire. The only thing left un-charred was some clothing that was still in the trunk. The street was blocked off by 2 fire trucks, and some police cars. They were scraping up ash off of the street as they loaded the car up onto some sort of tow truck. It didn't look good. Seemed sort of ominous.

Later on, we dropped off our Laenabug at the school. She's heading off to California on her Choir Tour field trip. Field trip?! When I was in high school, we didn't go on field trips . . . unless you were on the basketball team or something. . . Maybe occasionally to a museum? Nah. Not in small town, mid-western America. Anyway, we dropped her off, me and her Dad, and her buddy Jordan, and her little brother Jeffy. She actually took homework with her. Such silliness. As if there would be one spare minute for that. Unless she wants to work on it at midnight in the hotel room. Ha. Name me one teen-age girl you know that would opt to do HOMEWORK when they could be chatting about boys or painting their toenails. It will not happen. They're taking buses this year, instead of flying. Less expensive. It's weird though, just dropping her off, to go down to LA, without me going along as a chaperon. . . Who knows what kind of shenanigans those kids are gonna pull. Sigh. Thankfully, the instructor/director is very specific and doesn't put up with a lot.

This morning started out normal. The kids went off to school. Eric's been going over early to get in some 'tech hours' for his Stage Tech class before the end of the quarter. Clint was scheduled to probably work his first day at Pizza Hut after school. . . I took Jeffy to preschool, in a driving blizzard, which of course subsided into a beautiful spring day around lunchtime when I had to pick him up. . He had made a vest out of paper for his art project, and actually wrote his name 'correctly' on the back of it, without any help. I thought sadly of the birthday party he went to on Tuesday. I had taken him over there, expecting him to cling to my leg, and ask me to stay, but he didn't. He was having so much fun, I'm not even sure if he noticed that I left. This, combined with Eric starting his first job last Friday. . . it's almost more than I can take. They're growing up fast. I stayed up last night and watched 'Sense and Sensibility' while I snuggled the baby. I cried my eyes out pretty much the whole time. And now Clint's working also. I don't know about all this. I'm not sure that I am ready for my kids to leave the nest. Sigh. Anyway, round about 2 this afternoon, there was a knock on the front door. I was headed out anyway to get the mail, and was pleasantly surprised to see our across-the-street neighbor, Julie, running down our sidewalk. Down, not up. I thought that was a little bit weird. But then she saw me, as I walked out toward the mailbox, and she came back. She was on her hot pink cell phone, finishing up a call.

"Have you heard about what's happening at the middle school?" she asked. "There's a lock-down situation."

This is not something you want to hear. We both have kids going to school over there, in seventh and 8th grade. I felt my throat tighten as I turned to face the mountains. Only one street separates our homes from the field behind the middle school. I whipped my head around to the right, but it felt like slow motion. We could see hundreds of kids, close to the houses, with their backpacks on, as if for some sort of bizarre fire drill. The last time this had happened, a few years ago, when Laena was in seventh grade, a 15 year old boy, in ninth, had taken his own life. It was very sad, and very hard to understand. I braced myself for whatever it was that Julie was going to tell me. She had a friend with an inside track, and was expecting a call. We walked closer to the street, so that we could see better. The phone rang, and after a few minutes of her talking, and me rifling through the mail, she was able to tell me. According to her friend, there had been a bomb scare. A couple of kids had threatened to detonate something from a remote location. A teacher had overheard. The adjacent elementary school was locked down too. No one could get in or out. There were police cars blocking all the entrances and exits. This was disconcerting, as we both have kids there as well.

At times like this everything comes into clear and present focus. You think of 2 things. Your family and getting them home. Nothing else matters. Priorities right themselves. Everything else shrinks into the background, into insignificance. If there has been a disagreement, you want to fix it immediately. You forget to breathe. Julie's friend had said that the big kids would be allowed to go to the church parking lot, across the street at some point, to be picked up there, or to walk home. A minute after hearing this, as we stood frozen in the street, we noticed the sea of adolescents begin to move southward, en masse, toward the church. Julie was back on the phone, going to pick up her kids, and her friends'. We breathed sighs of relief, but still on edge, we hurried off to call the elementary school, etc, and figure things out. I barely noticed my sister's wedding announcement, and a birthday card for Aleia as I walked back to the house. I'd been flipping through the mail for several minutes, but hadn't really noticed what was there. There was a prerecorded message when I called Aleia's school. We'd have to wait until 3:30, but then we could come pick up our kids if we drove around front of the school. We had to check in with police officers, and then wait in line. Perris, the girl whose kids I watch after school, was pretty shaken, poor thing. Sigh.

Well, after that things calmed down a little bit, aside from the swarm of cop cars still in our neighborhood, police dogs, helicopters circling, (apparently they still hadn't found the stupid kids who'd started the rumor, or tried to set this up), and news wagons over at the church.

Charlie felt like things were pretty well under control, so he kept in touch from the office.

I think, personally, that the authorities handled this pretty well. I do, however, believe that some things need to change in the public school system. If I was in charge, all the teachers would be required to take gun safely courses, and I'd want them to be packing heat, every minute, every day. Then, if some punk kid got out of line, there they would be to handle it. Charlie said he's not sure that'd be a good idea in a middle school. Some of the teachers might just snap. "I'm an effing what?!" "Is that a cell phone?!" He likes to joke around to try to lighten the mood. Yeah. Hilarious. Deep sigh. Anyway, I'm glad everything worked out okay. I haven't even wanted to watch the news to figure out what happened. I imagine we'll hear about it tomorrow. Right now I just wanna be home. With my babies.

I'm thinking private school. Or maybe one of those charter schools they've started up recently. . .

Fruit Snacks and Easter Grass

I don't know about you, but I just can't believe how much sugar is being thrown at our kids these days. All year round! It's not just at Christmas and Easter, it's ALL THE TIME. There always seems to be something . . some holiday, some reason to give our children candy. Candy, candy, and more candy. How's a person supposed to diet and avoid sugar with all this candy all over the place!? Thank Heaven some of the neighborhood kids helped ours wolf through their Easter stash at super speed. I wouldn't have been able to last 2 days. . . Not with Dove Chocolate, and 3 Musketeers, and the like floating around the house, completely accessible, tempting me with it's smooth. . . creaminess.

I also love jelly beans. : )

Good thing those Easter baskets were empty within about 48 hours. Great timing huh! Whew! Now I just get to look forward to the 3 weeks of picking Easter grass out of the rug, the laundry, everything. And all I have laying around to tempt me are M&M's and . . fruit snacks. Those sneaky fruit snacks! They're supposed to be 'good for you', but I think our highly intelligent/intuitive little children know better.

"Mommy, can I have some more candy?" whined Jeffy plaintively, after I'd given him one of those cute little plastic pouches of processed, prepackaged, sticky sugar goo-bots we call 'fruit snacks'.

"That's not candy!" I gasped, mortally offended, feigning shock and dismay. "They're FRUIT SNACKS!"

I looked at the ingredients. Yeah, fruit snacks made of 3 different kinds of sugar, and 2% fruit juice. And we're supposed to be excited about that?! 2% fruit juice. Resigned sigh. A fruit snack, I told myself, (because I'm stuck in convenient/denial land like everyone else), is maybe an APPLE, an ORANGE, or perhaps WATERMELON. Uh-huh. That's right. No cane sugar in THERE!

Time to engage the ol' brain, Mama, and purchase some good, old fashioned. . produce. You heard me, I said it. Fruit. And veggies. It really wouldn't hurt us either, Mama and Daddy, since we are fast approaching old and gray, fat and forty. . . Just kidding. We're really not that. . . gray. : ) A friend of my husband's recently said to him: "Hey, you can be fat and 40, or you can be fit and 40." Hee hee hee. Sure. Not with all those yummy peanut M&M's staring me in the face, in the attractive little pint-sized Mason jars I've got sitting around the house. . . Sigh. I'm just as bad as anybody.

Guess it's back to the gym for me! ; ) Time to kick in some discipline. And no more fruit snacks. Sob, whine, sniffle.

Mateo

Meet my brother Matthew, a rather quiet graduate student from Brigham Young University.

And yes, as a matter of fact, he is a rocket scientist. : ) Love that tee-shirt!

http://matthewwildertanner.blogspot.com

Shangri La!

A typical spring day in Salt Lake City.

Why would you wanna live . . anywhere else?

Easter

Yes, these are our beautiful children. All 18 of them. : ) The twins, you will notice, refused to look up when I tried to take their pictures recently, so here you go. This is as good as it gets. Oh, and please disregard the piece of dry toast in the Binky's grubby little paw. Of course, we usually serve him organically grown, naturally salt-and-sugar-free fruits and vegetables, prepared lovingly by his devoted Mama. He never has fruit snacks and cheerios thrown at him like other children. "Have fun foraging in the old playpen, kid! Ha ha ha!" Not us. No sirree! : ) There are 2 pix of our baby Lincoln, only because he is so very, very cute! : ) He has this habit lately of laying on his back, and hugging his feet and giggling. So cute! He's my little Easter egg.

This has been a fun Easter. Yesterday we went to an Easter egg hunt at the city park. It was all right, but way too early for my taste, and rather cold. There were age groups, which was okay, but the kids were sectioned off like so many cattle, and it wasn't really a 'hunt', because nothing was hidden. All the candy was thrown out on the grass in plain sight, so it was more of a free-for- all than a magical easter egg hunt. I was probably just in a bad mood because I had to get up crazy early after staying up ridiculously late the night before. But hey, that's the way it goes. Eric got a job at the Carmike 12 movie theater down the street. His first 'day' at work he was scheduled till midnight, Laena also worked sort of late, and Clint and Tommy were over at a friends house till after 10:30. Perhaps I should mention that I do not do well without sleep. : ) Ha ha, chuckle.

Saturday night we colored eggs and had our own Easter egg hunt here at the house. Tommy hid the brightly colored, plastic candy-filled eggs, and the 3 little ones tried to find them. It was fun watching them run around the yard. The baby didn't really care that much about the eggs, he was just excited to be outside. : ) We had traditional 'cardboard' pizza (frozen from the store) for dinner, watched the movie Enchanted, (which was rather enchanting) and slept late this morning. Thankfully Laena got off work early last night, and we didn't have church until one. I won't astound and disturb you with the fiasco that was my 4 and 5 year old Primary class this afternoon. Suffice it to say that 2 or 3 of my sweet little girls decided to be . . puppies, and stayed in character pretty much the entire time. Between barking, they occasionally acknowledged my existence long enough to ask for jelly beans, which I had promised to give them at the end of class. Sigh. It is my opinion that there was an astonishing amount of sugar consumed by the children in our neighborhood this morning. Enough to drive several very well meaning adults to the brink of insanity. I was speechless with shock at the unbelievable lack of decorum, the fidgeting, the talking, the complete absence of . . . respect. Nothing like that ever happened when I was a kid. When we were young, kids were kids, grown ups were grown ups, and if a child happened to get out of line, which didn't happen very often, said child was promptly swatted on the tush, and usually didn't give the adults in the room any more trouble after that, because we knew our place. They were in charge. We were not. Period. Not so anymore. At least not today. . . absolutely mind boggling the craziness parents and teachers have to put up with these days. It's downright ridiculous.

Anyway, I'll quit babbling on about that. After church, my husband Charlie served up a lovely spiral cut, honey glazed ham for Sunday dinner. Easter dinner, I should say. He had ducked home in the middle of church to pop it in the oven. He's a good man, that Charlie Brown. : ) We made rolls and potatoes etc. It was very nice. Hmmm. Smile. I've been very excited about Easter this year. I always get worked up over holidays. After a recent fit of exultation, I sent out Easter cards/letters this year. Thought I'd switch it up a bit. It was fun, but exhausting. Don't know if I'll do it again. I'm still burnt out from doing Christmas cards this past year. What a blinking chore. I get all excited to take pictures and put a correspondence together. . . But when all is said and done, when all the letters are in the mail, I'm so tired, I don't want to see another sticker or stamp for at least . . a decade. It is fun, but so dang time-consuming. Who has the patience? Not me! Or I suppose I should say 'Not I!'

Who cares? Not me! : )

That's right, Baby! I'm signing off! I'm gonna take me a nap, and there will be no guilty. . . anything. No guilt associated. Sweet slumber, here I come! Contented sigh. . gentle snort, snore . . . ZZzzzzzzzzz.

Leprechaun Catchers

Sunday night 2 of our younger kidlets set up 'leprechaun catchers'. This was an idea that Aleia, 7 yrs old, picked up at school. Jefferson, her junior by 2 and 1/2 years, jumped right on board! I guess it works, cause last year they scored a bunch of chocolate gold coins between the 2 or them. The idea is to set up a box, you know, the old classic set up, with a stick under one side. . . Then, when those pesky leprechauns are running around at night, trying to smell out the cut-out construction paper 4 leaf clovers that are waiting for them under said cardboard boxes. . . of course they are so excited they run smack into something, they jump around, shakin' things up, the box falls, and they are trapped!

Now, in order to get out of there, to disappear, they have to leave some sort of gift, usually. . . GOLD! Monday morning, Saint Patrick's Day, mission accomplished! Lo and behold, when they lifted up their little boxes, (shoe boxes work best), what do you suppose they found? Not a leprechaun, not an impish Irish elf. . . No sirree bob! They found GOLD, my friends, GOLD! Course it was gold with a clever twist. . . chocolate! What a great idea! I wonder what genius thought up that brilliant combination! Well, whomever it was. . . pure genius, Baby! Mmm, chocolate. Always the best way to celebrate! : ) Happy Shamrock Day/Month everybody!

Halibut, Festival, and Saturday Chores

Well, the dinner went well last night. . . Except we had no idea that we didn't actually have to be there until quarter to seven. The auction just started at 5:30. Argh! I was sooo stressed out about leaving the baby that long etc, and we could've left a whole hour later!

Oy.

We did have a good time though, good company, great prizes, a worthy cause, and a fantastic dinner. I haven't had halibut like that . . . ever! Yum yum yum. And this new fangled strawberry vinigrette salad dressing! Who'd a thunk. It's great! They also had Miss Utah, and Miss Teen Utah on hand, chatting and signing autographs. Charlie thought about having his picture taken with the Utah Jazz Dancers, but decided against it. He said he didn't want to spend the ten bucks or whatever it was, but I know better. : ) He didn't want to spend the evening with a slightly irritated, 30-something wifeypoo, who didn't really want to think about how she can't fit into one of those cheerleader outfits anymore. Yike. I'm feeling closer to old and gray, fat and forty every day. Chuckle, chuckle.

Coca-Cola had a table close to the door, so we were able to sneak out early, go back and get the baby from our friends Katie and Chris. They were so nice to watch him. Apparently he ate a ton of taco fixin's, got all messy, and had to have a bath. He was all snuggly, in his nice warm jammies, when we picked him up. Deep sigh of relief. She said he didn't even cry for more than a minute after we dropped him off. How encouraging! : ) There is hope for our social life after all!

Today I took Laena to Riverton Music so she could participate in the Federation Music Festival. It's the same every March. Tons of music competitions. It's downright tiring. Maybe because I've been doing this for well over 20 years now. . . At least we've been affiliated in some way, with my little brothers and Annie, and then our own children, after competing myself years ago in high school. It's one eternal round. : )

Charlie told the boys, Clint and Tommy, that they could split whatever money they might get at the scrap yard, if they would strip his 'parts truck' that sits on the side of our house. Stunned pause. . Wow. Yay! I'm all for getting rid of one of his . . . blinking trucks. Never thought I'd be so excited about having a heap of scrap metal . . in my back yard. : ) That's right! Yeah, Baby!

My ever loving husband is also trying to get our boys JOBS, if you can stand it. They have no . . motivation, I guess. . No fire lit under their tushies. Looks like the Daddy man springing interviews on them, when he took the 2 of them to Pizza Hut to pick up dinner, is motivation enough! : ) Hee hee hee. The sneaky bugger. Gotta love him! Eric may even get work at the local movie theater! Amazing. Daddy had a little talk with the head manager. All righty then. . . But c'mon! It doesn't get any better than that for a couple of teenage boys. . . Discounts on pizza and movies. How could you go wrong? ; )

St. Patty's Day Dinner

Well, here we go. Tonight we're going to my husband's first big charity dinner for work. Some sort of fund raiser for St. Patrick's day. I'm a bit nervous. I've never been to one of these events before, and although my dad is a professor, and would often take us to dress up type gatherings, it has been so long that I can't possibly imagine what I should wear. . . especially when they put 'casual' dress on the invite. What does casual dress mean anyway, with relation to a semi-fancy-shmancy benefit dinner?! Is it business casual? Khakis and high end blouses? Is it make up and skirts? I can't see myself showing up in jeans. . . even if the atmosphere is sort of toned down, and they are brand new. . . Hmm. What to do. . . plus I'm leaving the baby with someone besides a family member for the first time ever! And she's a great girl, but she lives on a busy street. What am I to do?! Sniffle sob. Where's that blinking Prozac? : ) Just kidding. Sigh. I always get nervous when we leave the kids. I suppose there's a point at which this gets easier, say when they're 15 and you can't stand them anyway. . . Hee hee chuckle. . Well, we'll see how it goes. Should be great fun driving downtown in rush hour traffic. . . A small joke. Most everyone will be going the other way. Anyway, here we go. We'll let you know how it turns out. I have one small request: All you mommies out there, please shlep down a diet Coke and say a prayer for me. : ) Many thanks.

Easter Update

Easter Letter 2008

Since I got such an overwhelming response, and you all liked our Christmas letter so much, (all 3 of you), I've decided to branch out, and try an Easter correspondence. We tend to forget what's happened early in the year by the time the Holidays roll around again. . . Hope you enjoy! To update:

Laena and Eric recently participated in our High school musical, Oliver, in November, Laena on bass in the pit orchestra, and Eric backstage with costumes. He's in Stage Tech this year. They had a great time. Laena has also bumped it up from Orchestra and girl's choir Belles Voix, to the elite Chamber Orchestra and Concert Choir, jewels of West Jordan High. : ) She's the social butterfly of our home, along with her little sister Aleia, who follows absolutely in her footsteps. Laena just started working at the Classic Family Fun Center. She loves it, which makes sense, since it's a blinking zoo, full of teenagers and little kids.

Clinton has finished up all his merit badges for Scouting, and is now trying to come up with an Eagle Scout project. He's in percussion Ensemble at school, and is toying with the idea of taking either engineering or graphic design classes at the tech center next year. Our man Clint really enjoys fireworks, martial arts, drawing, and pocket knives. And let's not forget VIDEO GAMES. He'll finish up driver's ed here in a couple of weeks. Scary, scary. I heard it said once that dating and driving is not for the faint-hearted parent. I think I understand. : )

Eric has started running track once again. I believe this is his fourth year. . . He does pretty well, running a 66 second 4 hundred meter dash, the one hundred meter, and the 2 hundred meter hurdles. The 4 hundred is his favorite event. He'll be up (or down) to his Dad's record of 50 seconds before we know it. Eric is casually looking for a job and wants to work with horses. We're thinking maybe he'll become a field photographer for National Geographic when all is said and done.

Thomas has taken well to middle school. He's picking up the cello with no problem. He has those scales down for sure. Tommy's a lot of fun. He gets really excited about projects, and cooking, and Calvin and Hobbes. He made hamburgers for dinner recently, fashioning each patty with care into brilliant culinary perfection. : ) He wants to take up piano lessons next year, and has a great old time playing Frisbee with his brothers.

Aleia also had expressed a desire to learn the piano, but she also wants to sign up for dance, and cheer, and acting, and soccer. Sigh. To say nothing of swimming lessons, and Girl Scouts. Huh. I get tired just thinking about it. Lea is so excited about . . everything. She loves to play with her friends, roller blade, climb trees, a hundred other things, and most of all, plan birthday parties. : ) It's coming up. Here we go!

Jefferson has made some friends in preschool. He especially loves to play with Caleb and Megan Sue. They're so cute. : ) All those 4 and 5 year olds, bouncing around! Yipp skippee skippee! Now that spring is here, it's hard to get Jeffy to come inside. Wait a second. How is that different from winter? : ) We're signing him up for tee-ball pretty soon.

The Binky is running, and climbing and jumping. He likes toys and French fries, and getting into things. One and a half already. Wow, Baby Lincoln! How time does fly! I really think it speeds up the older you get. Binky is our cute little darlin'!

Check out Charlie's Germany/Austria pix at http://picasaweb.google.com or AZ pix at blupebbles.blogspot.com

Arizona Pix

Here are some pictures of the truck show we went to (endured) in Arizona. . . This small sampling comprises about one third of the pictures taken.

Enjoy!

Blast!

The Laenabug recently asked me to accompany her solo at the Chamber Orchestra concert.

"Yeah, we could do that." I said. "Sure. That'd be cool."

This is what I was thinking:

"Are you kidding me?! Learn new piano music? In a week and a half? With all that I have going on?! Aaahhhh! Blast!"

Okay, so my reaction wasn't right on. . . So maybe I tweaked it a little bit. . Sigh. We had a good time. Things went well, and I somehow retained my sanity. Huh. Wow.

Then the boy tells me that they're signing up for classes for next year at school. He wanted to take Fire Science at the Tech Center. . until he found out that it's all about fire fighting, not pyrotechnics.

This is what he said:

"Aw, gee. I want to start fires! I don't wanna put them out!"

Goodness. What were those people thinking. . not allowing teenage kids to practice putting explosives together on school property. . . Ha. Sorta reminds me of the time Clint called my husband Charlie on the phone over at the church. The Hubby Man was in a private meeting of sorts, discussing something about Scouting with a church leader. Our resourceful son Clinton, the pyrotechnic genius, looked up the number, called, interrupted, and unashamedly asked his Dad if he could use the blowtorch to melt some styrene in the garage for a bit. The Bishop clutched his chest. (Clint was maybe eleven or twelve at the time.) Charlie chuckled and said no. : ) He chuckled. This is what I have to deal with on a daily basis. And people wonder about my stress levels. It's amazing the kids haven't clean burned the house down. Ho ho ho.

Some of the stories we've heard from babysitters would curl your toes. (And I want you to know that we do, in fact, hide the matches. .) Tommy starting a candle fire in the bathroom and putting it out with a towel, (he got wax everywhere), Clint 'warming up' the Nintendo in the microwave, (it had been in the shed all winter), innocently surprised when the wires started sparking, (was he kidding?!) one of the kids 'planting' matches -red side up- in 2 or 3 of those big quart-sized candles, and lighting them all at once to see what would happen. . . I think Clint had to douse that mess (3 foot flame) with a bucket or 2 of water. . . Now keep in mind, this is all happening on our kitchen table. . . Yeah. Sigh again.

Yes, my friends, I just keep waiting to hear that loud, not so unexpected bang from somewhere on the premises. . .

If I find one more contraption involving old bottles, duck tape, and doctored up fireworks in this house. . .

Half-hearted chuckle. . . : )

Thank goodness we don't live in Wyoming.

My World In A Minute

My world in a minute:


Our boys recently discovered the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes.

It's probably the funniest cartoon I've ever run across. This particular entry pretty much sums up my day to day life. Comprehensively. Anyway, I thought it fitting. . Enjoy!

: )

Mama Mia!

Today it was another round of Sunday School. With a bunch of little kids. Sigh. If I hadn't been spiritually depleted from missing church last Sunday, I'd've probably stayed home. But I suppose our trip down south was worth it. . I'll always have that mental picture of my little brother Benj in his Sunday best, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, necktie shoved into his shirt, snaking the toilet in Nathaniel's master bath. So much for Sabbath day instruction. I have somehow contracted yet another cold, the fun kind, combined with allergies, where you feel drained and achy and capable of nothing, really, but staying in bed, in a semi-conscious, Benadryl induced, will-this-day-never-end pseudo-coma. With Herculean determination, however, I dragged myself out of bed, and took an extra long shower to try and clear my head. It worked. I guess. Sort of. Anyway, we made it. After tons of wrestling, arguing, coaxing, etc, we managed to transport the entire familia to the chapel down the road. You may have heard the saying "You can go to church, or stay home and keep the Sabbath Day holy." : ) It's an age old dilemma.

The kids were a riot today, as always. They're 4 and 5 years old. We made a nice little rainbow of chairs, and talked a little bit about the life of Jesus Christ. Allison told us about her experience with the family Christmas play at her aunt so-and-so's. They dressed up every year.

"We're you an angel?" I smiled, admiring her beautiful golden curls.

"No." she replied, obviously disenchanted. "I was the shepherds dog." She paused for a small moment. "I don't like Christmas plays." she confessed dryly.

I chuckled politely. The conversation moved to pets.

"We had a gold fish, but it died, and we flushed it down the toilet." explained Ethan, seriously. "Then we had another gold fish, but it ate the 2 little pink fish." He grinned, carefully amused.

"Wow." I conceded. "Sometimes that happens. . ."

"My Dad's got's guns!' yelled Landon delightedly, jumping out of his chair.

"That's great! Did your Dad go hunting?" I responded, directing him back to his seat.

"My Dad went hunting!" interjected Ethan.

"Did he get a deer?" I asked, interested. He laughed, and scrunched up his eyes, clearly amused.

"No, he couldn't get one of those." He shook his head and chuckled condescendingly, as if I'd suggested the most preposterous idea he'd ever conceived. I speculated momentarily about his dad's stalking prowess, and laughed to myself, imagining him decked out in camouflage, warily tromping through the woods in search of his prey.

"Maybe we should talk about prayer." I offered, trying to steer the lesson back to a church-related topic.

"Or monsters." demanded Damon, a frowning little visitor, who was pouting because he'd been forced to join us against his will.

I gave up, rifling through my purse for tissues. Suddenly I remembered the treats I'd brought. I was saved!

"You guys have been so good!" I said, smiling slyly at my fidgety little charges." I think it's time for a treat!" They bounced and cheered. Those pastel colored Easter m&m's were a big hit. They disappeared quickly. At long last, the class was over.

Later, at home, we were finally able to sit down. The baby was mercifully napping. I started on some writing, and Charlie took a moment to relax on our love seat across the room. A few minutes later, Tommy leaned into the doorway.

"Dad, there's some change in the toilet. It's not flushed or anything. It's just sitting there." My husband made a face, disgusted.

"Ugh! How does this happen?" he whined. I grinned smugly. His understanding of my world was being broadened. He laid his head on the back of the couch and closed his eyes. I laughed out loud.

"Happy fishing!" I sang supportively. He tossed a sarcastic grimace my way. We heard Tommy from down the hall, in the bathroom, giving the low-down to his brother.

"Well, there's one quarter, two dimes, two pennies and one nickel." He paused, reflecting. . . "How much is that?"

As if it mattered!

I was entertained. I glanced at my husband.

"Are you gonna help them at all?" I inquired casually. He didn't move. After a minute, he made them an offer.

"Tommy!" he called without opening his eyes, "I'll give you a dollar if you get it out. . . and you can keep the change!"

I snickered. Sure.

In a minute, Tommy returned, and poked his head around the corner. He was wide eyed and grinning, clearly for effect.

"I'm going in!" he announced bravely. He was armed with an old serving spoon and a plastic grocery bag. I shuddered and turned back my writing. Whatever carnage was going down in the other room, I didn't wanna know about it. Charlie chuckled, satisfied. Throw that spoon away when you're done! he commanded loudly. Good grief. Makes you wanna yell . . Mama Mia!

I picked up the baby. He was clutching his bottle. He slurped contentedly on my lap for a while, and then climbed down. A few minutes later, I noticed something was awry.

"Did he pee on me?!" I asked incredulously. "Oh my gosh, he did! No wonder I feel all cold and wet, and smell vaguely of urine. ." I held up my hands, simultaneously resigned and disgusted.

My husband reclining against the arm of our couch, set his book down and laughed.

"I would never pee on you. . ." he stated reassuringly, eyes twinkling with merriment.

I grinned at him, shook my head, and went back to typing. What was the use? We are far too used to this kind of thing. I sighed, enjoying the relative quiet of Sunday evening. The kids were all downstairs, entertaining themselves with various and sundry pastimes personal to each, mostly reading and Disney movies. Charlie buried himself once again in his Louis L'Amour novel and I remembered some unsolicited advice I'd received earlier from a kindly old lady at church.

"This, too, shall pass. . ."

I looked over at my husband, lounging on the couch a few feet away, with mixed emotions. I thought of our 18 children, and sighed. Then I thought my sore throat and sniffled. Well, you know what they say. . . Tomorrow is . . . another day. . .