Happy Birthday

Tobin turned 12 yesterday! It is amazing to me to think of him as a young man. In the last few weeks he has showed so much of what an amazing young man he is turning out to be. He has made so many good choices lately and I am left overwhelmed with emotion becuase he is so much more than I could have hoped for. We are told so often what a great person he is and I love to be reminded of that. Lately when he does something not quite right, I repeat like a mantra in my head, "he is so great and has made so many good choices when it really matters; this is small and not worth getting angry about." It seems to help. I hope T knows what a great young man he is.

Also, his birthday was marked by a pretty big occasion. Tobin was ordained to the office of deacon in the Aaronic priesthood in our church. It is not often it happens exactly on your 12th birthday, but it did and was so special to us. Andy and I were both amazed when he asked for Andy to give him a blessing. It just showed us how much Tobin was taking this seriously and how much he was thinking about it. He is excited to help pass the sacrament next week.

It is appropriate to say that both Tobin and Brett took similar steps this weekend. Both passed a huge rite of passage in their religion, in moving from boy to man. Even though Brett's bar mitzvah was celebrated with a big party afterwards, what Tobin did today was no less. It just shows the difference between cultures. The Jewish culture and the Mormon culture simply celebrate the passages in different ways. What made it so special to me was being able to celebrate with both of them in the way that fits them both. Both are amazing young men and I hope they continue in the path they have shown.

We had a big family dinner and cake to celebrate with Tobin last night! Tobin thoroughly enjoyed himself being with family. His cousin Ali, ever the clown, came up with some clever gifts. She gave Tobin toilet paper, a glow bracelet and water balloons. Tobin laughed so hard and is already thinking of the things he can give to her for her birthday! He also loved holding the baby of the family, baby Jake, who is 4 months old!

If you look closely at the picture of Tobin with the cake you will see that he is really laughing. Tobin lit his birthday candles and as I was telling everyone, "ready, 1--2--3" Tobin blew out the candles. What I really was saying was is everyone ready to sing Happy Birthday? So, we sang on and the candles stayed blown out! It was funny to see the smoke wafting before the end of happy birthday!

Brett's bar mitzvah

Our nephew Brett had his bar mitzvah this past Saturday. It was quite a party and experience. It was a whole day affair as the bar mitzvah was a morning ceremony and the party was at night. I can only tell you that the band they had was so awesome that they had to book them two years ago! They were worth it. They certainly knew how to get the crowd going. They had dancers to help teach dances, they allowed people to help sing with them (something I did not take advantage of), and knew how to integrate old with young. Andy practiced the "Soldja Boy" dance just in case they played it; they did! The band gave out sunglasses and hats for songs like "soul man" and "I will survive."
The food was also so wonderful. Dinner was sea bass and filet minon; how can you go wrong? It was so good. The other great thing was that we were able to spend time with family from out of town. It was so much fun talking with them and catching up with them. I have a lot of pictures but will only share a few. I think Brenna looks so beautiful and my boys made my heart melt. In fact, at the end of the night, I saw Tobin putting his cell number into a girl's phone. When we asked him about it later on that night, on the way home, he couldn't remember the girl's name!! It was great and we felt great to be able to celebrate with Brett.

Berry picking

I took Noah and Brenna with a friend berry picking last Friday. We had a great time, except that it was hot again for the first time in a week. We took a ride out to the berries and were dropped off. I have never been berry picking before and was really excited to try it. It was quite fun plucking the blueberries off of their branches. Noah was quite delicate and careful with his method of picking. He begain by pulling them off individually and quickly realized that wasn't quite right. So, he began gently pulling on a bunch of berries so that they softly fell into the half full bucket. Brenna, ever my daughter, began by pulling and sliding her hand down through the bunch of blueberries. She didn't quite care if they fell into her bucket or not and wasn't careful about pulling them off. She had fun eating and picking, eating and picking. It was a pattern I saw with strawberries as well. The strawberry fields were a little ripe and fermented and I wasn't as happy with them as I had about the blueberries. Luckily the kids were convinced of their sweetness and persisted. They found a great bunch on the backside of the strawberry patch. It was really fun for them to have friends as well. I think everyone should go berry picking at least once!! It's nice to feel connected to the earth this way.

Brenna Writes a Song...Or is it taken???

I heard Brenna singing this song the other day. She was really cute and I tried to listen to the words. I noticed that she wrote them down in a journal and thought I should share them with you. I have asked her and she told me that she wrote these words herself! But.....this is from a girl who introduced herself as "Jessica" at a party once, told friends of ours that we were getting two dogs from PetSmart, and who took my glasses to camp to tell others she wears glasses. I think she's cute, but mixes up reality and make believe. Here is her song:

I’m Just Where I’m Supposed to Be


I’ve never been the kind of girl
Who never believes
you are me and I am you
You’ve got to understand
I’m not who you think I am

You see I’m sunshine
The kind of girl
I am like you
I am sunshine you know that so don’t ask me that
This is me, this is who I am

Pretty clever, don't you think? :)

Tobin at swim meet

My friend took this picture of T swimming at the meet last Saturday. I thought it was great!!

Just a Good Day

I know, when it rains it pours. And since this is the first post you see, you might not realize it is like my fourth of the day, but I had to say this. I love, love, love my boys. I was getting ready for company and needed to get my house clean, but I had extended errands and was stressing about how I was going to get it all done. I walked in the door last night around 8:00 ready to clean and couldn't believe how clean the main level was. It had been cleaned!!! I thought it was Andy, but he told me it was Tobin and Noah! I was in tears-- my boys realized my stress and found a way to not only help me, but make me feel pure joy in my veins!! I am amazed at what great kids I have. They are truly turning out to be kids that I can be proud of and truly happy to have around. And the cherry on top was that as I walked upstairs, I saw a load of towels folded. The imperfection of the folded towels is what made me cry like a baby again. To see the imperfect lines, to realize that someone not used to folding towels had folded them, grabbed at my heartstrings and pulled. I wish I had taken a picture before putting them away to remind me of what is always right in front of me: what a wonderful show of family unity my kids have shown me. I love, love, love my boys. Tobin will be 12 on Sunday and it makes me want to go out and buy him the world. But, I hope he feels like I do, that he already has the world. I wish the same for Noah.

Zoo trip

We had a great time at the zoo today. All I can say is thank goodness the friends I went with have been teachers before! There were three of us (adults) and four of them (kids). One of my friends, Andrea, thougth to bring a "zoo bingo" game to play at the zoo. Who would have thought that this would have made it more fun. And my other friend, Kyra, brought the sunscreen; she was prepared. It was such a beautiful day with breeze and shade. The extra child was Annie Kate, a friend of ours, we were watching for the day. Unfortunately, the zoo was a last minute change of plans; we had originally planned to go the Native American Indian museum downtown. I am not sure why we quite changed our mind, but we did. I promise, Annie Kate, that I will take you to the museum this summer. She was a good sport about it and I hope she had fun. I couldn't always tell. The favorite animals were the orangutangs and the pandas. Andrea, is a friend of the zoo and had a lot of details about the pandas. She even went to Tai Shan's 2nd party at the zoo. Kyra, educated the kids on the birds and the bees of panda mating! It was a picture and interactive display on the wall that started it! The orangutangs were very funny and drew the most laughs. I hate that I am retelling the story, but the collective laugh of children in the monkey house was soo great. The orangutang pooped while he was hanging from a tree. Can you imagine a hosue full of children witnessing this display? Can you hear their laughter? And it didn't happen once; it happened a couple of times. The laughter was so fun and nice to hear. Why couldn't he have done it on the ground? We don't know either. It was a great day and I was glad I did it. And I actually drove to DC without getting lost (of course, Andrea was right there beside me telling me where to go). Another animal that took our attention was a peacock mantis shrimp. The volunteer was trying to feed it and we wanted to see her feed it. Apparently it is quite aggressive and they keep it in its own cage so it would eat the other sea animals. It was very colorful and didn't seem at all aggressive. It was fun to be doing something on our summer vacation!!

Swim meet

I love this part of summer. Tobin loves, loves, loves the swim meets with its spirit and bonding. I love watching them swim and love when they beat their time which Tobin and Noah both did by several seconds in this meet. Noah even ended up swimming a relay. As an 8and under he had to swim the last leg of the relay. Talk about pressure!! But he did a great job! Enjoy the pics.

Father's Day Pictures

I'm sorry Father's Day was so long ago and this post hasn't happened before now. We had a great day. The weather was beautiful, the food was great, and the company was fabulous! We had our friends, the Shahs over. Andy had to cook the steak (if he wanted it to be edible, he did) but I made sure to wash the dishes and clean everything up. Gifts were a hit and miss this year. Andy wanted Reef sandals and so he got them. The other gift that was a miss was an ipod microphone. I thought it was great and saw great potential for Andy and his creativity. What I didn't realize was that our phone could do the same thing. So, I will be returning it. Oh well. At least he liked the flip flops. I hope everyone had a happy Father's Day. Did you know that father's day first came about because a daughter of a single-father of five children championed the cause as she felt that there should be a day to celebrate fathers? I'm glad she did.

100 have and have nots

My sister challenged me to do make a list of 100 things I have done and 100 things I haven't done. I challenge you to do the same. I made a surprising discovery. It was much harder for me to make my 100 have not list. I think that makes me an optimist!! I look through the world through the things I have done rather than what I have not. It was certainly a liberating experience. Some are silly, some are dreams, and some are demons!! It was really fun to do and helped me learn about myself. I have arranged the have and have nots separately. I hope you enjoy. Here are the things I have done:

1. Stayed up all night for a Anne of Green Gables movie fest.
2. Graduated with a master’s degree in library science
3. Eaten rattlesnake
4. Run in a race (I was in 6th grade)
5. Snuck into a movie
6. Found the love of my life
7. Been to an American idol concert
8. Been bungee jumping
9. Jumped off a three story roof into a pool
10. Pulled an all nighter studying
11. Had a crush on a celebrity
12. Read Romeo and Juliet
13. Taken ballet in college
14. Had a massage
15. Been to a college football game
16. Seen a rainbow
17. Driven on country roads with the windows down
18. Sung at the top of my lungs
19. Climbed a mountain
20. Eaten raw cookie dough
21. Skipped work to see a movie
22. Ridden in a car trunk
23. Have a Facebook account
24. Taken a bubble bath
25. Driven across the country
26. Lied on my driver’s license about my weight
27. Been skiing in the west
28. Played basketball
29. Had a gym membership
30. Run away from home
31. Broken a window (at BYU they were going to tear down a building and Andy and I both threw rocks at it. It was a huge adrenaline rush for me)
32. Shot a gun (also another adrenaline rush)
33. Jumped out of my skin in a movie theater (I’m a scaredy cat)
34. Seen a bear up close on the road
35. Snorkeled and seen a barracuda
36. Been scuba diving
37. Seen a shark about 20 feet away while snuba diving
38. Watched high school musical by myself
39. Chaperoned a school field trip
40. Had a midnight snack
41. Been surfing
42. Parasailing
43. Forgotten to shave my legs
44. Shopped at Costco
45. Been to the Outer Banks
46. Driven a golf cart
47. Had my ears pierced twice
48. Had mail from foreign countries
49. Sat in a dark room
50. Written poetry
51. Burned myself with a curling iron
52. Gotten mad at a colleague at work
53. Read a map the wrong way
54. gotten out of a speeding ticket b/c cop didn’t show at court
55. eaten popcorn in a movie theater
56. played slot machines
57. cried over a hallmark card
58. pierced my own ear when I was 8 yrs old
59. gone to the bathroom in the woods
60. wished for blue eyes
61. played a full game of monopoly
62. seen a play
63. karaoke
64. spent too much on a gift
65. played golf
66. pushed a teacher to change a grade
67. made a website
68. watched a movie over and over
69. walked out of a movie
70. been too intense with my children
71. picked and eaten shelled crabs
72. laughed uncontrollably
73. had a child in the pediatric intensive care for a month
74. studied Spanish in Mexico
75. hitchhiked
76. driven a car without a license (I was 15 and almost driving)
77. tried to see the best in people
78. caught fireflies
79. had physical therapy
80. wanted to change careers
81. been on a sailboat
82. found money on the ground
83. paid extra on a monthly mortgage payment
84. been to Lake Michigasn
85. told bedtime stories to my children
86. created family scrapbooks
87. been to Disney World and Disney Land
88. regretted my vote for president
89. laughed too hard at a joke
90. kicked my husband awake so he would get the baby
91. been a timer at a swim meet
92. felt beautiful in a dress
93. seen a shooting star
94. visited someone in the hospital
95. built a house
96. played the 6 degrees of separation to Ben Affleck (I have 4 degrees)
97. taken my own cast off (I was 10 and tired of having it on)
98. been on the front page of a newspaper
99. have hit the garage door backing out of it
100. have been afraid of a turtle (happened recently, had a big snapping mouth)


Here are the things I haven't done. Sorry if the wording is sometimes awkward.

1. Had a nut allergy
2. Been to Ground Zero
3. Been to another continent
4. Hired a decorator
5. Have not learned to always be quiet
6. Ridden in a hot air balloon
7. Published an article
8. Been to all 50 states
9. Belly danced
10. Been boxing
11. Been on a blind date
12. Been a flower girl
13. Never had a camera with a really good lens
14. Made chili
15. Played an instrument
16. Won a lottery
17. Played soccer for a team
18. Coached my kids’ team
19. Eaten jalapeño peppers
20. Lived in a foreign country
21. Never driven a race car
22. Never been to a bar mitzvah
23. Never had caviar or escargot
24. Never been to a private island
25. Flown 1st class
26. Painted a picture on canvas
27. Not done yoga
28. Have not learned how to stop and smell the roses
29. Swam with dolphins
30. Been to a professional hockey game
31. Never been a classroom mom
32. Never wanted to pay $4 a gallon for gas
33. Have not been struck by lightning
34. Have not downloaded a podcast
35. Not Been to Rodeo drive
36. Not tried a case in court
37. Have not Run out of gas in my car
38. Driven a car over 100 miles
39. Not been on the Today show
40. Never attended the Olympics
41. Never bought a used car
42. Never sung in the rain
43. Not had to go without food
44. Not been a part of a sorority
45. Not killed a live turkey for Thanksgiving (a friend did this last year, how could they?)
46. Not ridden in a limousine
47. Not lived in a house that has a pool attached
48. Have not owned a boat
49. Have not been to a session of congress
50. Have not cooked dinner for a continuous month (we are bad about eating out)
51. Have not participated in a Miss America contest
52. Taken a train into the city
53. Not had pneumonia
54. Have never had a polka dot bikini
55. Not spooned my husband all night long
56. Not lied to my children to make it easier on myself
57. Not driven by myself to DC without getting lost
58. Not bought a used car
59. Not cut the grass as an adult
60. Not grown a garden
61. Not been to an opera
62. Not had a speeding ticket in 3 years (yeah)
63. Not learned how to tie a bow properly
64. Not swam the English channel
65. Not biked or backpacked through Europe
66. Not seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy
67. Not really started packing for our move (I’m in denial for a lot of reasons)
68. Not been on an African safari
69. Not decided on my vote for the November 2008 election
70. Not won a gold medal
71. Not had a spiritual experience today
72. Not hugged my children enough
73. Not played Bunko in a year
74. Not changed ink for a printer
75. Not changed oil in a car
76. Not learned how to sew
77. Not learned how to make every penny count in my budget
78. Have not followed a budget ever
79. Have not followed my IRA accounts in months
80. Have not seen a car accident as it happened
81. Have not driven in California traffic
82. Have not played lacrosse
83. Have not been a fashion designer
84. Have not been to Niagra Falls (either side)
85. Have not been a school principal
86. Have not had a job in the business world
87. Have not learned the periodic table by heart
88. Have not learned the art of saying no very well
89. Have not kept every promise I’ve ever made
90. Have not found anyone I think is better looking than my husband
91. Have not learned how to pack a car well for a trip
92. Have not ever been able to give up chocolate for a year (wanted too, but I am too impulsive)
93. Have not been able to fit into my wedding dress in years
94. Have not had braces ever
95. Have not written a children’s book
96. Have not been on a cruise
97. Have not played on a Nintendo Gamecube ever
98. Have not taken a bubble bath in ages
99. Have not ever had a leadership position in my church
100. Have no idea why this is formatted thi s way.

Street Hanging

Brenna loves to shimmy up this street post and hang at the top. These two pics. were taken at the same time.

Bugs and Lemonade

Sorry, I haven't been keeping up on my posting. There is a definite reason for which I will I have to blog about sooner or later, but right now I choose to make it later. On to something funny.

Memorial Day was beautiful here. Brenna had a friend named Shira over and they decided to have a "bug" stand. They had been fascinated all afternoon trying to find roly-poly bugs and any others they could find. Not sure who decided to try free enterprise and have a bug stand, but they loved the idea and went full steam ahead, carrying a play table upstairs from our basement, making signs and so on. Andy and I suggested that they might want to sell lemonade as well for the people who aren't interested in bugs! They were so earnest and serious. I had an ache in my heart knowing that our street wasn't conducive to any kind of stand, let alone a bug stand, for selling things. I quickly made lemonade for the girls. Brenna and Shira didn't want any help after that and they didn't want us to stay outside with them. Had they only turned around to our house they would have seen our heads poking out from the curtains. Andy and I wanted to watch them and see how they handled everything.

Moving over to our couch, but still able to see them, Andy and I suddenly heard in a sing-songy voice, "Bugs for sale, lemonade for free." Andy laughed first, loud and infectious. I laughed last, tickled by their view of the world. It didn't matter to them that the bugs were from the earth and completely there for anybody's picking, even if they weren't supposed to be. It didn't matter to them that the lemonade was the paid commodity for which they should have been trying to recoup and make a profit from. It was a cause for laughter from us! We laughed. It felt great to laugh!!

In the end, Andy called our neighbors and they were such good sports. We saw them feign a great interest in the bugs, but asked politely for the lemonade!! They ended up making $2.25 each and they were escastic.