General Conference Campout

This weekend was busy and a lot of fun. The girls had their last class of gymnastics Saturday morning Mommy got to stay home and do some deep cleaning and Daddy was working very hard on the girls' Easter present. Eli played all around the house with Fiona.

A conference tradition that we started last year was putting up a tent in the living room like the Nephites did to come and listen to King Benjamin. The girls LOVE it! They get so excited about General Conference. They also love the activity booklets and playing conference bingo. Last time we tried a breakfast casserole. They were all so excited but none of them liked it, so we didn't repeat. Instead on Saturday afternoon we had cracker hors d'oeuvres. Daniel just cut up a bunch of cheese, meat, pickles, and avocados then we let the girls make their own stack. I made a little tuna salad to give some variety. It think this might be a better tradition for us.

After getting a lot of work and Saturday jobs done, Daniel headed to priesthood session and I was left with the kids and an oven I was in the middle of cleaning. Shortly thereafter they got their jammies on and declared that they were all STARVING! I thought all the crackers and cheese at 4:30 would have been enough so I wasn't really planning on making dinner. Hamburger Helper to the rescue! It has been many, many months since I have used a box of that stuff but I was sure glad to have it on hand.

We extended the tradition this year and I let the girls sleep in the tent in their sleeping bags.

They had a lot of fun, but I was so exhausted from cleaning that I needed them to go to sleep quickly. They were pretty good and I didn't have to get after them too many times. I made the mistake of laying Eli down in a sleeping bag and reading books to him like he was going to get to sleep there too. I tried to lie him down twice and then I took him up to his crib. He cried and cried "seeping bag" "seeping bag". Finally I went and rocked him to sleep.

I am not really sure how early the girls got up Sunday morning but they watched a Veggie Tales show and then started playing. Daniel made Danish pancakes for breakfast. We showered the kids and headed to the Riverview chapel to watch the morning session. (After an untimely accident of leaving Eli running naked for too long after the bath! We were a few minutes late and the girls had to do their own hair.)

This afternoon they enjoyed hanging out in the tent and even listened to the last session fairly well. I didn't really expect them too, I figure having them listen to one session a day is pretty good. The squares on the wall is a matching game where they match the apostles name and picture when they speak. As you can see it was quite the disaster area after two days of fun. They were pretty good about cleaning up, although Kyla really didn't want to take the tent down. If frustrates me how if I try to get REAL stuff done (something that I don't have to repeat next week) then the rest of the house falls apart. I can keep it up and maintain it but it is pretty much a full time job!

I am happy that we have been able to find a way to make Conference exciting for them. I really enjoyed conference too, although there wasn't one specific talk that really stuck out to me. I thought it was funny how they kept on talking about the guys getting married. I think the Saturday morning session was my favorite but I need to go back and relisten to some of those talks too.

Pancakes and Pickle Juice

One Sunday afternoon we were enjoying a nice lunch of leftovers. Eli was very excited about his choice of pickles and pancakes. He was very interested in Kyla's choice of beverage and quite enjoyed the pickle juice. I love (and Hate) how he is saying so many more words now. It is so fun to hear his little voice trying to say big words.
Other happenings today include Myka going home sick from church. We think she has an ear infection but we have all been battling coughs and runny noses. Daniel gave her a blessing and she fell asleep for awhile. We talked to the older girls about summer plans and they all want to go to the Real Life Farm for Summer Camp. Our friends the Lawrence's go every year so it will be fun for them. Daddy made us waffles (blueberry and pecan), smoothie, and sausage for dinner. Nora fasted for the first time for both breakfast and lunch. We were pretty proud of her, she also bore her testimony in sacrement meeting today. Nursery went well for me. I actually taught my lesson. I think that is the first time that has ever happened! Hopefully it will happen more often as the kids get a little older. We are looking forward to a week of play practice, girl scouts, honor's choir, gymnastics, art club, math club and selling girl scout cookies when we get the chance. Daniel has been taking some cookies to work and it is going really well. The girls even made a cute poster for him to hang with their picture on it. Hope you have a great week!

Cutest Thing Ever!

Is this not the cutest thing ever? I am dreaming of making it but since I still need to do 3 stockings that I haven't started I don't think it is going to happen this year. I have been looking for a cute advent calendar and really like the little boxes idea. I heard of a great tradition that I want to start where you put little slips of paper in each box with a Christmas activity written on each one. For example, read "The night before Christmas", make cookies, sing "Away in a Manger", Go Ice skating. Each day the kids pull out the slip of paper and we all participate in the activity. I think it would be such a great idea and help us feel more like we are celebrating the holiday instead of running around crazy.

Conference Week

We had a very fun time on Conference Weekend. For FHE the week before we talked about what kind of Conference traditions we would like to have in our family, so the girls were really excited. One of the funnest things we did was put up a tent (sheet and chairs) in the living room and then brought down their blankets and snuggle friends and worked on the coloring pages in there. It was supposed to be like when King Benjamin addressed the people and had them all come and set their tents up. We played a matching game on the wall with the first presidency and quorum of the 12. The girls were really excited to eat breakfast casserole in the living room on Sunday afternoon but unfortunately none of them liked bread soaked in egg and cooked. Maybe we will try a different recipe next time. It was nice to actually be able to listen to all of the sessions this year. I enjoyed Pres Uchtdorf's talk especially, he is quickly becoming my favorite apostle. I wish I had got a picture of the tent but I am sure you can use your imagination.

The rest of the week was super busy, of course. It was filled with soccer, school pictures, playdates, honor's choir, scouts, blood drive, girls scouts, and Daniel enjoyed attending a Ford Interfaith event where Sylvia Allred from the General R.S. presidency spoke.

Friday night was the ward Halloween Party and it was a lot of fun. I had stayed up pretty late the night before working on Nora's costume and will still probably spend a couple more hours on it. I will post pictures of their costumes soon but I figure since we have at least 3 more times to dress up I will get pictures later.

Saturday we attended a Family Picnic and Camp Hawthorne Hallow (a girl scout camp). It was a lot of fun, it was only $10 for the whole family and we got lunch, crafts, magic show, animal show, and there was a bunch of activities that we didn't even get to. We went with two other families from the ward and the girls had a lot of fun with friends. The camp is really neat and we may have to visit there again. A big boa constrictor was one of the many cool animals at the animal show.The sloth was definately my favorite, so fun to see up close. The kids were really excited about the monkey. He kept shaking the cage and being crazy until he got out, pretty cute but definately not something I would want in my house.

Eli is 18 Months! (I know a month late but I started this post that same day)

I can't believe how time has flown and how big he is! The day he turned 1 1/2 was a Sunday so he got to legally go to nursery (although he has been going with me for quite a while since I work in there). He is not very clingy and I think he will do great even when I am not in there. The next day we decided he should look like a little boy. Since my sister-in-law was unexpectedly here and she is great hairdresser, she did it for us. Here are some before shots:

Come on! I think he makes a very cute little girl!

Eli froofy head excited about the calf at the dairy.

The Haircut!

he was a very good client and hardly fussed at all.

The next day:

I had a hard time getting his attention, he was having too much fun beating the flowers with the sticks.

Well, at least he is smiling! And is still cute even though he is closing his eyes.

I don't think I would have been able to bring myself to do it. I have been crying every time I look at him for the past week, he is just too big!

Eli is so much fun and we are so glad that he is part of our family. The girls (especially Kyla) take such good care of him and have a great time playing with him.

Just in the last month he started trying to say some words. One of his first was HOT. He also says CHEESE, BUH-BUH for bye bye, BOO for book, BALL, AH DUH for ALL DONE, and a few others. He is still not a parrot and doesn't like to repeat back what we say too much (unless it is his idea and not ours). He has started using sign a lot more than he was and does several all on his own. He caught on the sign for "treat" the very first time I did it.

Eli has also gotten to be a handful to keep track of somedays. Like I said before he is not very clingy so during the day it is common for him to wander downstairs when I am upstairs and start exploring. He is tall enough to reach things off the counter and one of his favorites is getting down the guinea pig food and feeding the guinea pigs (and the floor). He also enjoys spreading oatmeal when the cupboard is not latched. Eli has gotten to be quite a good climber and can haul himself up on almost anything.

Books have become a favorite for him and he feels left out if he doesn't get a book at night like everyone else! He does quite a good job at sitting and listening too. He is very good at throwing and kicking balls and is even trying to catch. He is a good eater, a good sleeper, and mostly easy going (especially when we are out and about)! We are so grateful to have our home blessed by such a sweet little boy!

Last Week (Sept 13-20)

Last week was our first full week of school and we barely made it through. It was such a big change to be up and going every morning and going nonstop till bedtime. I must say things have improved since last year when Daniel was taking them to school. I am able to have everyone up and out of the door (maybe not completey dressed!). I was so proud last week we were not even late once, actually early most days AND I rode them to school on bikes with the little ones in the bike trailer behind (except one day it was rainy).

Hooray! We are all up and dressed and rode our bikes to school, definately doesn't happen every day but glad that it happens more often than it used to.


Nora seems to really like her teachers (she has two, one works M, T, and every other W and the other works TH, F and every other W, kind of strange but she seems to really like them and I have heard really good things.)

Kyla is a good student but is not excited about school this year. I think the teacher she got may not be a good match for her personality. We will probably consider moving her if it is a ongoing problem.

We decided to keep Myka in preschool this year. She was so excited to start preschool so that she didn't have to "work" anymore. I guess she isn't excited about helping around the house. She loves her teacher and is doing a much better job at making new friends than last year. Technically she would make the cutoff by two days to go to kindergarten but since the cutoff is so late out here (Dec 1) and she is kind of small we decided to let her be little for another year. I am really happy about our decision. I cannot imagine having to get her up and going every morning and then her being gone ALL day. I am sure she will be more than ready next year!
Notice the cute strawberry shortcake bag. It was mine when I started kindergarten. Myka used it all last year with my name on it. It was not until the day before preschool started that I managed to get her name on it! I am just excited that I finally did it.

Enrichment was Tuesday. It was super fun and we had great attendance. We packed boxes to send to the troops and then did a service exchange. I was in charge of the service exchange and I think that it went pretty well.

Soccer started for Nora and Kyla last week and they seem to be enjoying it, although they aren't on Ryan and Caden's team who are always so nice to them. They do have some girlfriends from the ward on their team so that is nice. I am trying to be a good mom and not get too involved. It is very difficult!

We did have a splendid surprise on Monday. Kai called me from the Buffalo, NY airport saying that they were getting ready to board the plane that would layover in Detroit before getting on the next to SLC. Unfortunately, the layover was only 45 min so we knew that seeing him wouldn't work out. A couple hours later Daniel got a call that they had missed their flight and were stuck in Detroit! WooHoo! We had a fun evening chatting and Kami cut Kai and Eli's hair (another post). I got to hold the baby, who is sooooo beautiful and good. Someday I am going to talk them into staying a day or two at least so I can take them to the village and the museum!

The rest of the week was full of soccer practice, scouts, preschool meeting, babysitting for date night, and a BYU football party. This week looks even worse, I am starting to dream of the evening when we don't have anything planned. It is not going to happen in Oct. but maybe Nov.

Long Time No Post

So I haven't posted since summer started but that is just because we have been too busy and having too much fun! Here is our summer synopsis and hopefully more details will follow.

The first two weeks were spent with swimming lessons in the morning, lunch at the park, free swim in the afternoon and Saftey Town in the evenings. It was insane and exhausting but a lot of fun too. All the girls passed their swimming levels so we were excited about that. We had a fun garage sale with our friends the Ruesch's. It was our block sale so a whole bunch of houses on the street were doing it. It was alot of fun, not very profitable for us since I spent more than I made but I got some great stuff too! (Kyla's birthday present for $2.50) The next weekend we went out to the Howell Balloon Festival and had a great time watching the hot air balloons take off. The girls especially enjoyed the booth from the Nature Center and watching the opossum eat a rat!

The third we of summer we had a little downtime while we got ready to head west. We did go to the village on Monday and the zoo on Wednesday and had a lot of fun with that. Friday we left for Utah much assisted by our friends the Lawrence's who made us rolls and muffins, tended our cat and guinea pigs, lent us movies and books. (Not really sure how we would have done it without them.)

We made it to my brother's house in Midway, UT about 8:00 on Saturday night. Just in time to eat some yummy food and watch fireworks from their front porch. It was a lot of fun and super cold, kind of strange for the 4th of July.

We headed down to the Ranch that night and were surprised to find Grandma, Esther, Ryan, and Ben and then Amanda and Jake came up too. We played as hard as we could all day Monday and we pretty beat from the zipline, swimming, four wheelers, etc.

Tuesday we spent with my parents on an outing to the Grand Canyon. The kids had a great time. They were more excited to see rocks to climb on than the beautiful canyon and were super excited to find that the pinyon pines were about the right shape for climbing.

Wednesday was Kyla's birthday. Daniel and I took her out for breakfast at Houston's which was a lot of fun for her. Then we headed to Hurricane to stay with cousins.

Thursday Daniel got sick which was unfortunate but probably good that we took some forced downtime. That evening was Kyla's birthday party with cousins. We all went out to sheep's bridge and swam in the virgin river. My girls loved catching the tadpoles and other critters. Then we headed back to Nate and Candy's for dinner and an ice cream bar. Kyla said that instead of a cake she wanted and ice cream sundae bar with lots of toppings. It was super yummy and fun.

Friday we visited with Amanda briefly and then headed to Moccasin. The girls had a great time watching and feeding Grandma's toads on her front porch. We saw some of the most interesting, scary looking bugs. I decided next time we head down to So. Utah we have to start a bug collection. We will have to get one of the those giant grasshoppers from my parents house too!

Saturday was the Heaton Family Reunion in Moccasin. It was a lot of fun hanging out there. We took a wagon ride up the meadow and hiked up to look at the spring. We had a hot dog roast in the was and then thankfully headed back to the church where we could get out of the heat, sand, and stickers. The kids had such a great time doing crafts and shooting off rockets all day with cousins. Thanks Aunt Carolyn!

Sunday Grandma drove Daniel to the airport and we hung out in Moccasin with Matt and Amy's family, Nate and Candy's, & Ben and boys. It was quite the party.

Monday morning I headed with the girls back to Kanab to get my sister and parents and head up to the ranch. We stayed at the ranch till Thursday morning. It was so nice to have Candy and kids and Grandma there. We couldn't get the generator started the first night but it was fine the kids had fun telling ghost stories and silly jokes. We had a lot of fun on the four wheelers, in the pond, and on the zipline. Unfortunately, the deer flies were really bad so we didn't venture far from the cabin and even then most of the kids looked like they had the chicken pox. I dared the zipline a couple of times and the last time I went down and dropped off the bar it flipped around the cable, unclipped from the carabinger and dropped into the pond. I was sad to have lost it at the bottom of the pond. I tried to dive down and get it with goggles but only got to the top of the weeds. I am glad we were able to spend a little bit more time up at the ranch this year and I think that it went pretty well, although I don't think that I could have done it without my sister and Grandma's for support.

Thursday we headed to Kanab with Kirse and Savannah packed in the car with us. We had fun there but mostly just hung out. We went in to town to do some laundry at the laundromat and inbetween loads we were going to go to the park. On the way I saw the old library that has been converted to the Kanab Historical Museum so we stopped and spent an hour looking at the cool stuff. I was glad the girls didn't throw a fit since we changed plans on them. That night we made a cake out of twinkies, strawberries, and whip cream for Kyla so we could sing to her and Grandpa and Mormor and Aunt Kirsten could give her their presents. Her cake actually turned out really cute and with the strawberries and whip cream the twinkies were actually pretty good.

Saturday Kirse, Dad, and I took the girls up to Orderville to watch the Junior rodeo. It was fun for the girls to watch the horse that they get to ride in Kanab compete in a rodeo. It was hot and dirty but so we didn't last too long. We went back to Kanab and took the girls to the splash pad and the city park. They had so much fun and we were the only ones there, it was great. On the way home Dad took Kirse to go show her the "beach" on Kanab creek. I got a call on my cell a few minutes later that they were stuck and needed me to come and get them. Dad ended up getting a friend with a tractor to come and pull him out. Oh the Fun!

Sunday we packed up and headed to Tooele. The girls were so excited to be at Savannah's house that we didn't end up going out and doing a lot. We did spend the good part of two afternoons at DI (and $140) Yikes! I love that place too much. We also took the girls to the little train museum there in Tooele and they had a lot of fun there.

Grandma Cynthia and Morgan were brought up by Amanda so they could drive the long haul with us to MI. We left Wednesday morning and drove all day through Wyoming, taking highways up through the corner of the state to get us to Mt. Rushmore. That evening after driving through a somewhat scary storm of wind, rain, thunder, and lightening we unexpectedly came upon the Martin's Cove church site. I had to pee at the time and was excited to see friendly missionary faces. We had fun. The girls got to pull handcarts and get little souvenirs. Really would be a cool place to visit when you have a day to walk the trail and explore the whole thing. We really enjoyed the drive up through Wyoming and like spying all the antelope. It was so green and open. That night we drove pretty late through small towns and highways to end up in Custer, SD close to Mt. Rushmore.

We stayed at the Bavarian Inn and were up in the forests of the Black Hills. The area around Mt. Rushmore was totally not what I expected and Mt. Rushmore was a lot smaller than I expected. It was so pretty up there as we were driving on these winding, narrow highways up and down the mountains. The girls were begging to get out and climb some of the rocks and would have liked to do much more of it. Nora found a mountain goat at Mt. Rushmore. I am sure out of the thousands of people that were there that day only a handful of them saw the goat. We tried not to stay long because we really needed to be heading on down the road. We made it into Minnesota that night with a short stop at the Corn Palace somewhere in South Dakota.

Friday we woke up and drove and drove and drove. The kids did really well, we only stopped twice the whole day. Unfortunately, we got caught in a beast of a storm on the edge of Lake Michigan while we were driving through Indianna and into Michigan. It was blowing and raining so hard we really couldn't see the road. Semi trailers kept flying past us so we really couldn't see. We finally pulled off and stopped at a Motel 8. I really didn't want to stay another night but Daniel said the storm was going to keep at it till 1:00 in the morning. By the time I had got us checked in and back out to the car the sky had lightened quite a bit and the kids really wanted to go home and not stay in a hotel. The lady was so nice to refund my money and we headed slowly home. It rained on us the whole rest of the way but got lighter as we went. The girls were so excited to not have to be in the car anymore and Daniel was glad we were home. I think I am going to post what I have so far and then I will continue to catch up with the week Grandma and Morgan spent with us and the girl's summer camp week.