Wax Museum

Alona spent a lot of time doing a report on Booker T. Washington.
She made a timeline of his life, wrote a report, dressed up like him and memorized a little about him. And then today there was a crowd full of third graders who had a report on someone and when you came up to them and pushed their button they told you all about themselves as if they were the man/ woman that they were displaying. I loved it! Alona was fantastic!

There were some famous people and some not so famous people
One of the students even reported on a fallen soldier :\
What an amazing report

Longevity

When we lived in Provo at our first house, Alona was given an old bike of the Dome's. Well it has lasted a few years, had a few flats, and most recently had a tire ran over, which bent the rim. So we ended up going out and getting Alona a new bike and telling er this would be her birthday present, so that she would have a bike to ride all summer.

Not only Alona's bike got ran over, hers was just the first. Next was Abbi's then Kacen's, his was just a training wheel, which we replaced with Abbi's training wheel, so then Abbi learned how to ride with no training wheels. Then Kacen's bike got ran over again, rendering it useless because its rim was bent. And last and hopefully least Abbi's bike got ran over, but wait Abbi's didn't get ran over by us...her bike got ran over by the neighbors. Our neighbors graciously came over and let us know that they would like to take Abbi to pick out a new bike. So today Abbi got to go with the neighbors to pick out a new bike, a pretty, very girly and colorful bike.

(Almost finished, has one pink rim that needs to be fixed
and a few other spots that were hard to get)

And while she was out and about, Mom and Kacen got to town, brought out the acrylic paints and painted the old bike that we got from the Dome's. We turned it in to a boys bike and then daddy made it so it had two tires and rims from the different bikes that had been ran over. And now miraculously, with many ran over bicycles all of the children have working bikes!

I have a Weight Watchers points calculator that I have randomly been using. I lost a little weight and I even overate and didnt exercise, wonder what would happen if i actually stayed in my points and exercised. Hopefully with warmer weather this week I can

We're going to have a baby

Okay so the title is a little misleading. We're not having a baby today, tomorrow or even nine months from now. But some time we will have another baby, maybe sooner than later. Last year we had been talking about having one last baby, yeah this next one will be our last. I decided to leave it up to Paul. I really wanted him to choose, I wanted him to be ready and excited for it. He said that some time within the next three years he would let me know when he was ready. I am not one for patience, even through me popping up at first every few days and then once a week, etc. it got less as time went by asking him if he was ready, I was still prepared to wait years to have our last. I was just too excited to not ask him occasionally.

I was playing around with Paul a week ago Friday, jokingly, "hey can I have your baby". That's just how I am. And he replies with a "yes". That took me by surprise. I was fully prepared to wait years, that night, I seriously couldn't sleep, I was all sorts of excited, nervous and scared all at the same time. So, I am excited, I still have to be a little more patient, I have to get birth control removed before starting our next journey in this. But I am ready for it. And the best thing is, my husband whispers to me, "We're gonna have a baby"...He's happy and excited too :)

you know that feeling when you know what someone is getting as a present and you just cant wait to tell them, but you have to wait until they open it. Thats how excited I feel

Easter 2011

Hunting For Easter Eggs, Easter morning

She had walked right past her present that wasnt candy, I was in awe that she had passed by it, I had to take a picture :)

Ah-ha! There's my chocolate bunny!

I have bubbles :)beautiful sponge -curler hair Easter morning

"My egg, its in there!"

Coloring Eggs!!

I colored it!... Can I eat it now...

haircut

Last week Kacen, Jesse and I walked to Great Clips.
He went from a curly top pictured above
to this stud muffin pictured below!

Girls Night Out

Last Friday night the girls and I went up the Provo Canyon to the Trefoil Ranch owned by the girl Scouts. We pulled out our mattresses and spread them out and got them ready with our stuff on them and went down stairs to the kitchen. We had an awesome pizza and salad dinner with cookies.

Then we did other things to pass the time.
Alona played the piano for us.

We put facial asks on one another, did hair, painted nails
soaked our feet in some special stuff that they had for pedicures :)Then there was a pajama fashion show
while we were drinking our root beer floats
Abbi won a girl scout shirt for cutest pigtails with her pajamas

Abbi was very tired by the end of the night
The next day we went on a hike and did an awesome science class. They took dish soap, food coloring and water, blew bubbles in the cup then scooped up the bubbles on the index card and popped them. Awesome decorative paper. They also learned about refection/ refraction and absorption of light/ warmth. They planted seeds, Alona a carrot and Abbi cucumber. The girls put their hands in ice and then put their hands in a blubber covered baggy to see how whales stay warm. Interesting class :) Glad to have time with just the girls!

Noteworthy comments

In Church on Sunday (a few Sundays ago). The lesson was centered on trusting the Lord, trusting God. Joseph Smith had come up in the discussion and was talked about how he had went and prayed and had trusted God enough to answer his prayer. It was asked how do we come to trust in the Lord. It had come in to my minds view that Joseph Smith, whom was given as an example in the lesson had parents that taught him gospel principles, who had read the scriptures to/ with him. He had parents who helped him to develop that trust in the Lord. Having that parental involvement in finding that trust in the Lord in helping you to have instilled those values. Also, having parents that you know you can rely on and have shown that you can trust them, will probably enable you to trust in the Lord more easily, because you know that if he is anything like your parents that he will be there for you.

I had said this comment that you just have to be brave and put yourself out there especially when you haven't had parents that have shown you how to trust in the Lord. The response that I got back was not something that I expected. I feel that when we are sharing our thoughts and insights with women in the church, in a gospel setting that our comments, life experiences should not be looked at so lightly. No one knows the past that is behind us. I was told in response that the people raised by "goodly parents" all around us were actually the minority in the majority. As in my past, with my screwed up parents was common. No one should assume..

I feel that if she had really known me, she would not have thought that the parents and early childhood life was as common as all the families who did not have as "goodly" of parents.
I now feel more inclined to keep my past and the reflections that I have of it to myself in times when I would have otherwise shared tidbits of myself when it would have applied to the things that were being talked about with people that don't know me so well.

Every one has not so happy childhoods and parents who don't teach such principles, but that doesn't mean that the not so happy childhoods that we have are all the same. We all have different horrors from the past. Mine aren't any more difficult or more important than anyone, nor should they be diminished either.

-Years of drug abuse, partying, neglect
-Children who were ripped from the home
because of choices of their father
-Moving from shelter home,
to relatives homes, to foster homes
-A father who decided to take his own life
in the garage of the childhood home
---Brothers who were not able
to grow in the same home as the sisters
--A mother who could have tried to get her children back,
but doesn't even show up for court
and even after they have grown
isn't a part of my life or her grand children's.

Maybe I'm wrong but this doesn't seem so simple as just a parent not being "goodly" or not teaching their child trust or the principles of the gospel.
Everyone's comments and experiences should be Note-Worthy
and not brushed aside as common