Christmas with the cousins

Can I just say it has been craaazzzyy. Way too little sleep and lots and lots of fun.

Zach's great day

Zach has been looking forward to this day as long as he can remember. It has been on his mind for lots of years. He is finally 8 and was baptized on Saturday the 27th. He was so excited. Of all of the great things about being baptized, one of the greatest was that his favorite people were able to be there. Of course there was mom and dad, and brothers and sisters, but the fact that Grandpa drove four days to be here and the Porter's braved the snowy roads to be here on his day were the best. He definitely felt special when he saw his friends and family there. Thanks to all who were able to come. Thanks to Nana for playing such beautiful music while we waited and to all of the cousins for such a great job singing with no practice. Thanks to Lexi and Paige for the accompianment. It was fabulous. Zach really did love it.
After the baptism, he chose to have build your own pizzas back at home. Whew, 27 pizzas later, we broke out Wii fit and had the most hilarious time watching 77 year old Papa twirl a virtual hula hoop. So much laughter and so much fun. That night, he got a phone call from a friend who was out of town wishing him congratulations and that completed one of his most perfect days ever.
It was definitely a great day that Zach will never forget.

Neglected

I think we have all felt neglected at some point. Either nobody talked to us, or someone we really liked ignored us, or maybe we just needed to have a pity party. In other words, I think we have all been part of neglection. Is that a word? Anyway, I feel like I have neglected my blog. The past few weeks have been crazy, stressful, and fun at the same time. Nothing tragic happened. Nothing has really changed. Life has just been full. Events that I have worried about for a long time are over, (pack meeting and visiting teaching conference) and now I feel like I can get back to regular life of lunches, field trips, lost library books, bad hair days, the one missing Sunday sock, laundry, and lost teeth. So, I would like to say it won't happen again, but I'm sure it will. Sorry. That's all I have to offer.

Pajama Obituary

In loving memory to "shark jammies." Born when Casey was a teeny boy, the piranha pajamas from Old Navy, were loved immediately. The first pair was bought when Casey was one. When he got too big and they had worn out to the threads, he only wanted "shark jammies." So, we got him the next size. Well, those soon wore out as well and Casey still wanted to wear "shark jammies." So, thanks to an exhausting look on ebay, we found 3T shark jammies. After a year of daily wear, the 3T shark jammies were beginning to look sad, so it was time for a new pair of shark jammies. After many looks on ebay, we found 4T shark jammies. Casey, still wearing them daily, still loving his shark jammies, was perfectly happy. That is until the vomits came to visit him. The 4T jammies were already on the slope to the graveyard, but when they got doused in vomit, they headed straight for the garbage. They are survived by no more shark jammies and hopefully will be replaced by Santa with big boy jammies.

Only in SF

Ron and I got back last night from a great trip to San Francisco. We love to go there on a short trip because you can see so much in such a short time. There are always hidden surprises, but this time there was the BEST surprise. I guess Kat and Ron have been conspiring since my birthday to meet in SF. So, after we checked into the hotel (which was a very interesting story) there was a knock on the door. I opened it and there was Kat looking as cute as ever. I got a smothering squeeze from her and she got an annoying Gregish index finger wag in her face. Then, it was off to hit the town. The two days was full of eating in small cafes, riding cable cars and other germ ridden public transportation, watching Kat get scared by the bush man, eating a hot fudge sundae at Ghiradelli Square, and LOTS of people watching. We made it to Ashbury/Haight for the first time and to a remote bakery next to a shady neighborhood. Ron got a shoulder pet by the Russian with a mustache that seemed to be following us and we decided that you definitely need to fear the stache in SF. We walked out on the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset and were in awe of the creations of our Father in Heaven intersecting with the gifts of man. Of course Kat had many conversations with stranger people and we laughed and laughed.

All of the kids did well at home and loved having french fries and chili for dinner. I have to give a huge THANK YOU to Nana and all others who helped keep things rolling at home. I am so grateful for a mom who would drop everything to come take care of my 5 crazies. It was so nice to not worry about them at all. They all love and adore Nana and didn't miss me a bit. I'm not sure how to take that. I think they would all love a Nana vacation more often. So, thank you again, Nana, we really appreciate you.

In the end, it was sad to have to go our separate ways at the airport, but luckily we have Zach's baptism to look forward to. Thanks to Kat and Ron for such a great trip full of fabulous memories and great company.

P.S. If you want to stay at a hotel on Geary near Union Square that starts with an A, stay at Adagio and not Adante. That is unless you want purple walls with fish murals to lull you to sleep.

Too alluring to ignore

While I was looking for a picture for my latest post, I ran across this picture. It reminded me so much of Jill and one of her favorite new escapades. Wherever the dog food is, there you will find Jill. I haven't found her face first in the dish yet, but she sure loves to swirl the food in the water and dump it all over the floor. I wish I had a good solution. It is such a pain.
Jill's other favorite escapade is just a rite of passage. All children must go through the dishwasher stage and Jill is primed. It doesn't take long for the dishwasher to be opened before Jill is front and center. It just must be too alluring to ignore. Oh well, this stage too quickly ends and then we find ourselves in the middle of the terrible twos. So, I have to remind myself to enjoy all moments, even if they do include cleaning up gross, soggy dog food.

A true touch of dog lips

Yesterday, Casey came in to tell me that he had wiped it off. I asked him, "What did you wipe off?" He simply said, "The bagel." "Why did you wipe off the bagel?" I asked. "Because Teddy had slobber on it." I immediately asked him, "Where is the bagel?" And of course his answer was, "I ate it." You just gotta love it.

Vomit, part two

Once again we found ourselves up all night with vomiting children. Sam and Zach were hit with the bug last night. Yuck.

Vomit . . . literally

Oh, man. We spent the night awake every 20-30 minutes with Maggie. Of course, I hope the germs don't spread anywhere else. Today, Maggie is on the floor of my bedroom vegitating in front of the little tv watching Playhouse Disney. At least she has a companion in her misery. Teddy has been parked a foot away from her keeping watch.

Found in a forgotten folder

Don't you just love this picture?!!!!
Miss you Kat!

Kit Party

Kit Kittredge is all it is about for Maggie right now. She dressed up as her for Halloween, she WANTS the doll, and finally she had a Kit party for her birthday. We watched the movie, (adding polly pockets mid-way through to bridge the "boring" part) had brownies and ice cream, and opened presents. After everyone was gone, Maggie spent the rest of the day digging further into her gifts. She had such a great time and still thinks Kit has it all - you know, she does have a cool tree house.

Boo!

We had a Happy Halloween with a Cougar Fan, a sumo wrestler, Kit Kittredge, Obi-Wan, a fairy ballerina who did not like her wings, and Underdog who was completely embarrassed and wouldn't go on a walk wearing his costume. There were parties in classrooms, a cul-de-sac party with friends, trick or treating, and a TON of candy. All of the kids loved their costumes with Zach becoming more self conscious as the day went on. Sorry, Zach. Whoo hoo! Glad it is over.

tag

Here is the fourth picture in my fourth folder. A cute picture of Maggie and Kat at the beach. Too bad Kat wasn't in her bikini. I didn't realize how much Jill is starting to look like Maggie. So fun. I tag Kat and Libby.

trunk or treat

Just a couple picts from the ward halloween party. I'm sad I didn't get Maggie or Sam. Good thing we get to do it all again for Halloween.

what more can you ask for

Sam went on his first camp out for scouts on Friday night. They went to the site where the Mormon Battalion crossed through Arizona down by Maricopa. He had a great time, ate good food, stayed up late, woke up at 4 in the morning, and then came back for a football game at noon. It was a hard fought 6-0 win and Sam came off the field after the game with a red, sweaty, dirty, exhausted look on his face.
"Was it fun?"
"It was great."
The day ended with trunk or treat at the church and a lot of running around with friends. I'm not sure I have ever seen Sam more worn out and more pitiful at the end of the day.

I couldn't agree more

Zach told me today that someday some girl is going to be really happy to be married to him. I couldn't agree more. His reason was that he is going to be fun and make his wife laugh all the time and be happy. I couldn't agree more. He told me he was so glad to belong to me. I couldn't agree more. Today, Zach made my day.

Borrring

You would think it would be impossible to make pack meeting with thirteen 8-10 year old scouts boring, but I pulled it off tonight. Yawwwnnn. Sorry, boys.

Welcome Dog

What in the world are we thinking? Today we added a dog to the mix. Teddy is two years old and is hopefully completely trained. An older lady who travels a lot wanted him to come to a good home and I hope we fit the category. We surprised the kids and they were all definitely delighted. So far there have been no chewed shoes, no puddles, no barking, and no plunging off Nana's stomach. (ode to Kitter) He is a very sweet dog who already loves the kids and walks around following whoever is near.

Crash

Don't we wish we could all crash like this. The brown chair has become Casey's favorite perch for an afternoon snooze. Turn on a little show and pretty soon all you can hear is loud, content breathing. Sweet dreams, Case.

The Zoo

Jump

Over the Weekend

Zach's favorite teacher had his class do an "Over the Weekend" entry every Monday. So, today I am going to see how it goes if I do an "Over the Weekend" post.

Over the weekend, we celebrated Maggie's birthday by having pancakes with M&M's for breakfast. She then opened her presents which consisted of a small sewing machine and a large fairy coloring book. She wanted to go to the fabric store and choose some fabric to make a purse with the new sewing machine. We didn't make it to the fabric store, but went to the dollar store instead and picked up a Halloween placemat to make into a purse. We tried out the machine and decided that we need Nana to help us with the tension and until then, we would just sew on the big machine. After a dinner of popcorn chicken and biscuits, Maggie and I went to the mall shopping. It was fun to listen to a 6 year old discover all of the weird things that a mall has to offer. (Boys wearing Frankenstein boots, all colors of hair, nearly nude posters, and the list could go on forever.) When we got to the carousel, she couldn't wait to get on the upper deck of the double-decker carousel. She chose to ride on the pink horse and when she started going up and down she turned to me and said, "I'm scared." I think it is the first time, other than the terrifying lightning storm at the swim meet, that I have seen her scared. I'm not sure she will choose the pink horse again. We made our way to the bookstore, the Tinkerbell store, to Gap for about 27 seconds until she said there wasn't anything for her in the store, and then in search of Webkinz. (She had $10 from Grandpa burning a hole her pocket and luckily there was a Hallmark store in the mall.) After an oreo blizzard, we finally made our way home.

Saturday, Casey woke me up asking if he could have two Webkinz for his birthday. (His birthday was September 20th) I am not a real fan of Webkinz, so now I am REALLY not a fan of Webkinz. Saturday is also football day. It was a great win for the boys and Sam got a touchdown and a runback that was 5 yards short of a touchdown. Zach didn't spy any dragonflies (a joke with one of his coaches) and got in on some great defense. So, it was definitely a highlight of the weekend for the boys.
On Sunday, we finally got to church after returning home 3 times for things that we forgot. When we got to church, there weren't many choices for a bench. We squished with the Kelm's and had to beg forgiveness as 14 people crammed onto one of the long benches. Thankfully, Rhonda Gardner sat by us and helped keep peace and quiet on the bench while Ron had his first run at conducting. THANK YOU RHONDA!! I got to teach in Primary which is always good with me and Casey gave a talk in Primary. He had practiced and practiced and he did a great job with a trip to Walgreens as a bribe. Then . . . we had an eternity after church. At some point I would like to know why Sunday is eternally long and at least twice as long as any other day. I do love Sunday, but I would love some ideas to keep the day holy that don't require me working harder than I do all the other days. Finally, Sunday came to a close only to start a new, exciting, week full of even more adventures full of nothing.

Tag

I can't believe I got tagged. Whatever that means. I am sooo boring and not cool that this is going to be the lamest 25 things in the history of online tags.

1. I lived in the same ward until I went away to college.

2. I vomited all over the MARB at BYU while pregnant with Sam.

3. I swam for BYU and set a Western Athletic Conference record. That seems like another life.

4. I have been on a hanglider all over California (no wait, that was a ride at Disneyland)

5. When I was sixteen I went to Austria, Germany, and Switzerland with my parents and brother Geoff.

6. I love to watch college football and could sit all day Saturday just watching games. Too bad I have children.

7. In 1994, I went to a BYU-Notre Dame football game in South Bend and BYU won.

8. I graduated from BYU in 3.5 years by taking tennis online. Woohoo.

9. I have a belly button piercing. Just kidding.

10. My least favorite time of day is just before bedtime for the kids.

11. My least favorite chore is cleaning the floor. Maybe we need a dog.

12. My favorite place to eat out is Mangos.

13. I love the smell of dusty rain in Arizona and I don't like snow.

14. I married my best friend and have 5 extremely competitive children.

15. I have never been to a rock concert.

16. If you do the math, each person in my house has 199 square feet to themselves. Some days that just isn't enough. If you add the bird and two turtles, we have even less.

17. Growing up I always thought I wanted 7 kids - 5 boys and 2 girls.

18. My favorite dessert is Sprinkles vanilla cupcakes, Linda's fudge cake at Cheesecake Factory, Blue Bell cookies and cream ice cream, Blue Bell chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, IBC rootbeer and Breyer's vanilla ice cream rootbeer floats, peppermint ice cream in the winter, hot fudge sundaes at Nielson's, mint chocolate chip ice cream from 31 flavors, ron's chocolate cake warmed up with vanilla ice cream, peach cobbler, Granny's shakes in Heber, Utah, and peanut M&M's. That's just one right!!

19. My master closet is currently hanging on the wall in my bedroom due to Ron's office invading our closet.

20. Food cannot be touching on my plate. It makes Thanksgiving really difficult.

21. Ron is a better cook than me.

22. I desperately hate hospitals and stay the minimum time allowed after having a baby. I was irritated that Jill wouldn't poop so I had to stay an extra day.

23. I am the youngest of 5. 3 girls, 2 boys and have great parents.

24. When I was 13, I was paranoid that I had caught AIDS from a drinking fountain.

25. My sister and I could talk on the phone for hours and hours and hours and never run out of things to say.

Ok. Now, I tag Kat and Thelissa and Libby. Have fun.

Birthday Cake

Remember the mom could you . . . post? Well, this is a sad attempt at an R2D2 cake for Casey's birthday.

peaches

Jill LOVES peaches. Jill starts her morning by eating a peach by herself. And I mean by herself. She wants to feel the peach in her hand, smush it between her fingers, and then taste the goodness of a sweet, ripe peach. We are all going to be sad when peaches are no longer in season.

preschool

Casey is loving Mrs. Kotsur at Mendoza. On Casey's birthday, we got to hear the class sing Happy Birthday to Casey "underwater" as they all plugged their noses. He laughed through the whole song and still talks about it. I have had fun looking at past pictures on the computer and thought I would post this one of Casey's first day of school.

fall sports

We are in the swing of fall sports around here. I feel lucky to have Sam and Zach playing on the same football team. It has been fun for them and less work for me. Maggie has loved soccer and we love the fall weather at the games. Just a couple picts now that I have them on the computer. Sam had to miss the first day of practice with stitches in his foot. So, a picture of Sam will have to come when the camera visits a game.

Could you . . .

It seems lately my kids have been asking for me to make random items. It always begins with could you make . . . and then some wonderful item that I am supposed to magically make appear. Casey is usually asking for a house for one of his toys out of legos, (and he is very particular about how it is to be made) Sam asks for gourmet food items - usually involving sugar, Zach asks for THE MOST random things, and the other day Maggie asked if I could make a duct tape wallet for a birthday gift. Oh, boy. I told her my duct tape expertise pretty much ends at wallets. But, she thought her friend would like a purse much more than a wallet. So, I gave the purse a good try, and after nearly cutting my finger off with the rotary cutter, and after many messed up pieces of hot pink duct tape, it turned out decent enough to be sent to the party as a gift.

I soon had requests from the others for duct tape backpacks and new wallets with snaps. I had to answer. . . probably not. At least not today.

P.S. As soon as my computer is finished freaking out and the usb ports will work, I'll have to post a picture of the purse.

a simple joy

It's amazing what the youngest of five can get away with. Never in a million years would a dum dum been found in Sam's mouth at age 8 months, but Jillie pretty much gets what she wants as long as she is happy. I let her suck away until I realized that bubble gum sucker slobber was getting dangerously close to Ron's flip flops. So, after the picture was taken, I was forced to take the sucker away. But, boy did she delight in the sweet, sticky goodness for as long as it lasted. If only that simple joy could be bottled up and sold.

Thanks, Kat

I needed to try a new salad and called Kat to ask her for one. She said make this BLT salad recipe I have, it is soooo good. So, I went to the store and bought the goods, called her and asked if it is really, really good. Then she tells me that she has never had it before, but some girls at work told her about it. Nice. So, I made it today anyway to see if it was good. And . . . it's a keeper. Here is the recipe.

BLT Salad

Toss1 lb. pasta bow tie, cooked and drained
2 T. olive oil

Add to pasta:
8 oz. bacon, cooked and crumbled
4 c. grape tomatoes cut in 1/21
1/2 c. arugula chopped
1 c. red onion

Dressing:
1/2 c. mayo
1/2 c. parmesan grated cheese
1 t. white wine vinegar
pepper

toss all together and add 1/2 c. parm. cheese to top.

Thanks Bree

Hooray for Bree. She set me up with a cute blog. Now, I have to find out how to do a slideshow and I should be a happy blogger.

garbage day revisited

All I have to say about yesterday is that it was garbage day. And all that you need to know is that yesterday was Pack Meeting for cub scouts and that should explain it all. It is not a good day and I warn anyone around that it is not a good idea to talk to me on garbage day. So, thankfully garbage day is over and we can all now move on . . . that is until next month.

This post was reworked to get rid of pictures that did not show.

cupcakes anyone?

It's after 11 o'clock and Casey just walked his little self out of bed asking to make pink cupcakes. How delightful. He must have his birthday on the brain. And, sadly for him, we are not making pink cupcakes in the middle of the night.

Remembering

Today is September 11th and a time to remember when terrorists attacked Americans on US soil. Like most other people, I can remember where I was when I heard about two planes hitting the World Trade Center towers. I was at our house in Gilbert when Ron called me from Walgreens at Higley and Southern. He told me to turn on the tv. It was one of the most unreal things that I have ever seen. It was amazing to see black smoke pouring from the tops of the towers. An overhead of New York showed smoke traveling far to the east above Long Island. It was amazing to see shots from Brooklyn and to see the tremendous amount of smoke that was produced from the fire. Then, I watched as the towers fell to the ground. It was unbelievable and shocking, yet I couldn't stop watching. I felt grief for everyone that lost someone they knew and loved.
Yet, there was some good that day. Stories were heard of heroes in fireman uniforms. Stories were heard of the ordinary men and women who became heroes on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. People around the country became united and prayed together. Even Congress seemed to forget their differences for a moment.
Years passed, and like so many others, when I traveled to New York I wanted to see Ground Zero. Kat and I went together and toured the church across the street. We walked and read and had a few tears and remembered the sadness as well as the heroism that prevailed that day. I will never forget pictures of firemen shoes on the fence posts left there after the owners never returned to claim them. My love and pride for my country grew as I reflected on the price that has been paid for our rights and freedom.
So, to remember that day, I made cupcakes today. Something that I love made in remembering a country that I love. A little, sweet goodness that reminds me of the simple things I take for granted because I live in America.

I love you google

Since Casey was old enough to say "I love you" he randomly will say, "Mama, (pause) I love you." It is so great. He will be playing with his cars, coloring, or looking for a missing toy and will look up and tell me he loves me. Then, last year, Zach introduced the word google to Casey. So, now, "Mama, I love you" has changed to, "Mama, I love you google." This morning I got a "Mama, I love you google" from Casey and it just reminds me that I love Casey google too.

football and dialogue don't mix

Have you ever been having a conversation with someone and then realized that you are having a conversation with yourself? That happened to me last night. Ron and I were talking and watching the end of the Monday Night Football game. I was talking and talking and then looked over at Ron only to see him paying no attention to what I was saying, but rather watching the game. I started to laugh which prompted him to ask what I was laughing about. I told him that I had been having a conversation with myself for the past 30 seconds. He responded by saying, "I wanted to watch that play." Duh, I should have known.

ok, i started one blog, but forgot the address. what a dope. so, here goes try number 2.