Archery

Emma and Aiden got the chance to take a free archery class at our local shooting range.  They are having a great time learn to use a bow and arrow. The fun part, aside from archery, is they are joined by a few of their friends.

 Here is Emma with her life long friend Aeryn standing side by side leaning to shoot a bow and arrow

Here's Aiden giving it a try

Princess GG Gwenie turns 5

Are you wondering where the name GG gwenie came from?  For those of you who don't know, Gwen is named after my sister Gwen.  One time both of our families were in Washington with the rest of our family for my brother Dan's wedding.  My sister Gwen was pregnant at the time and my kids kept calling her big Gwen.  Being pregnant, I'm sure this was not an easy thing to hear so her husband started calling my Gwen GG.  My Gwen then called herself GG Gwenie and thus the new nick name was born.

What a joy she is to have in my life.  She is a spunky fun loving spirit.  She's beautiful in all respects and loves to care for others.  The other day I found Gwen with her baby sister Eva in their room with the door shut.  I opened to door to find Gwen changing Eva's diaper.  She quickly came to the door and said "Mom leave, I'm helping Eva get dressed for the day.  If you open the door she escapes".  When she is not quiet she is humming or singing a song.  She has a taste for fashion.  Being a more experienced mother now I don't do anything to squash that ability unless she is wearing something that is immodest.  She brings laughter to our family with all the funny things she says and I am so grateful for a beautiful girl like her.

This is the second year in a row that Gwen wanted a princess birthday party.  I figure this desire will die with age.  The wonderful part about this party is that Robyn and Emma took it upon themselves to plan and create this fun event for Gwen.  So here are some pictures of Gwen on her special day.  Do you like her clothing selection?  According to Gwen all princesses are ballerinas too!

Grandma's Little Pizza's

When I was a child, I have fond memories of driving to California to visit with Grandma Jill.  I have many fond memories to Husker du to the lemon tree in the back yard.  Most of my memories stem around food.  My favorite thing my Grandma Jill would make are these easy mini pizzas.  I hadn't made them in a long time and decided to try it Kibbie style.  She would make them on English muffins.  Since I can't have them I made my homemade rolls and cut them in half.  The rest of the recipe is as follows:

One can of olives

Home made pizza sauce

shredded cheese

Dice the olive then mix the ingredients together and spoon on to bread halves.  Put them under the broiler for about 5 mins or until the cheese is melted and golden color.

So yummy on a cold winter day!

 I found this non dairy cheese at Whole Foods the other day and love it.  It actually melts and as far as I know it tastes good and there really is no dairy in it.  Aiden, Emma and Eva love it! (for those of you in Utah, it's cheaper at Whole Foods than Good Earth)



Christmas in our new house!

Pictures from Christmas in our new house!  Sorry about the picture quality.  I did not realize the lense was dirty.

Robyn, 12?!?

Yes, it's true. My young girls are turning into young ladies right before my eyes.  Robyn turned 12 this past December and is an amazing young lady.  She's a very caring older sister and loves to be around children.  She loves to read, create and do anything with animals.  Her friends love her because she is a devoted friend.  She is a beautiful young lady and is very good at looking at life a little deeper than most.  I love to be around her. 

Seeing that I have 4 girls all bound to become little woman, I only hope to someday be like Mrs. March with words of wisdom that spew from my mouth with out a second thought.  I know one thing that my girls can count on.  As Mrs. March counselled to her girls "One thing remember, my girls: mother is always ready to be your confidante, father to be your friend; and both of us trust and hope that our daughters, whether married or single, will be the pride and comfort of our lives."

How grateful I am to be a mother.  How much more grateful am I to have a daughter like Robyn.

Here she is with her friends at her Pajama fashion show birthday party



Human Body Study Part 1

This year we started a science curriculum on the human body.  The curriculum is great because it is filled with several short lessons in a chapter followed by an experiment.  It take us about 2 weeks to get to the experiment which are very hands on.  Here's a link to the curriculum that we purchased.

 Here are the kids making an edible "cell" out of jello and candy. Don't worry they are all sugar free :)

The finished product

Temple Square Tradition

One of our favorite new Christmas traditions is to go to temple square sometime during the month of December.  We love to see the lights and watch the nativity dramitization with wax figures near the south visitors center.  It's magical to see all the lights and be reminded of the birth of Christ.

God be with you, till we meet again

Over the past 2 years I spent a lot to time with my sweet childhood friend Melissa Waller as her caregiver.  I got the amazing opportunity to be by her side through her fight with stage 4 lung cancer.  She was an amazing fighter and really did not complain much.  Of course the terms of this condition weighed heavy on her as she had to make many decisions and knew that her life was being cut short. But all in all she stayed true and positive through this horrific disease.  I often thought of her mom who also lost the fight of cancer.  I'll never forget the last time I was with her mom and hearing her talk of skiing again and not letting this disease define her.  Melissa had the same outlook on life which I know stemmed from her mothers example. 

My heart aches to think that the Waller family has lost two of their close family members to cancer.  Through this experience I learned what mourning with those who mourn means.  I truly felt like I lost of part of me.  I felt much comfort in being there for her family and in the understanding of God's plan for us and knowing, with out a doubt, that the part of me I lost the day she died will again be together when it is my turn to move on from this mortal life.  I am forever grateful for the kindness that was given to me from the Waller family.  They truly treated me as their own family member and I was honored to be able to be with her through her last breaths.  She died on a beautiful Arizona day which happened to be Thanksgiving.  The feeling that she was not alone as she left her body was undeniable.  Everyone who was in the room with her knew and felt that her mother was there to assist her on to her new beginning.  I personally felt the Spirit of God very strongly through out that last week with her.  We shared much of our young life together and I am touched by the love that Melissa and her family showed me during those years. 

Here we are the last time I got to spend one on one time with her in September.  This was the last time I really communicated with her.  We had a great time that week.  She dolled me up with a "Melissa" makeover from head to toes.  Then we went out to her favorite restaurant Postinos in Phoenix.  On this trip I brought all these letters she had written me after her family moved to Park City.  We used to write each other about twice a week.  The letters made her laugh so hard.  We laughed for a good hour and a half reading and talking about how silly we were in our early years.  I am so glad I made this trip.

This is us back in 1992 shortly after they moved to Park City. I flew down and spent two weeks with Melissa and her family.  I arrived to a welcome banner that the family made for me, taped to the garage door (I still have this in my scrapbook). 

Here we are about two years before the last picture at the Waller's home in Washington.  This was the beginning of the many "Melissa makeovers" that I had.  Her mom was so patient with us when we got into her bathroom and closet.  We used to love to sit in these "spinning chairs" in their front room to spin and talk.  Around this time I was ridding my bike to her house every morning to french braid her hair, then we would ride to school.

Draper Temple Dediation

This is a post from long ago that I never posted for some reason, so here it is:



Six months after we moved to Draper they annouced that a temple would be built.  The open house started in January and has gone until the middle of march.  In January, we attended the open house with all of our children.  It was a wonderfull experience to show them what it was like inside and explain what the rooms were for.

On Friday we attended the dedication with Robyn and Emma.  In order to attend the dedication, we had to recieve a special recommend from our bishop and had to be at least 8 years old.  We waited a long time before being able to go in (this was VERY hard for Emma who has a hard time sitting still and for me as well).  The temple had chairs and TV moniters set up in each room and even the foyer so many people could attend.  We were wisked up stairs and had a seat in one of the sealing rooms.  As we were waiting, I saw a mom of a friend of ours who was an usher and she said there were a few more seats in the celestial room and asked if we would like to go in there.  We said sure, not thinking much of it until we saw the pulpit and some posh chairs on one side of the room, about 30 chairs on the other side of the room and video camoras.  A few moments later, after we were all seated, in came Pres. Monson, Pres. Uchtdorf , Elder L. Tom Perry of the 12 apostles.  As they were speaking we talked to the girls about feeling the spirit and asked them how they felt about being there.  

For me the feelings of the spirit began as we were walking up stairs I saw a large picture of Christ standing with His arms out.  For me the whole purpose of the temple is to know Christ, how to live with Him again, with our families, and to feel of His love through service to others.  The other times I felt of His presence was while singing songs of Him and His spirit.  Music has always touched my heart.  It's a great way to remember life happenings.  Have you ever heard a song and felt an emotion tied to it?  I feel that when I sing a song about Christ and His teachings we are brought to a rememberance of where and we were before this life and that is why it is so touching when I am in the right frame of mind to accept those thoughts.