Me: Davey, you look sad, are you okay?
Davey (nods): Yes, I am sad. (slumping shoulders turns and walks down the hall to get dressed).
Me: (starts to follow)
Davey: (Very loud wailing and crying suddenly comes from his bedroom)
Me: (Enters his room) What's wrong, little guy?
Davey: (Hugging me, then looks up with a very tear-stained face...and completely naked I must add...just finished his bath) I don't want to go away to college! (More wailing and crying ensues)!
Me: Why?
Davey: (still crying) It's boring!
Me and Anna: (trying to keep in our smiles and laughter...) It's okay! It is still a long way away!!!! And by the time it gets here you will be all grown up and will want to go!
Davey: Ok...
P.S. Later at lunch Anna asked Davey if he wanted to go to "Utah" or "BIU"? He shook his head, said "None...I want to go to New York. Do you want to go with me?"
Friday, February 10, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Overheard On the Playground...
It was a sunny February afternoon with blue sky and no inversion. Davey and I couldn't resist a quick trip to the park while Anna was dancing her heart out at her creative dance class. We grabbed cousins Josh and Charlie and Aunt Natalie and cruised up to a family favorite: Rocket Park. Davey and Josh were playing a game they called "Firefighters". Suddenly I heard David tell Josh to wait a minute. Josh didn't hear him. Davey looks at him and says, "Hey, Joshua, pause the game!" Josh says, "Okay" and stops! Pause the game! Seriously, must be children of the electronic generation!
Monday, February 6, 2012
Ping-Pong Can Be Dangerous...Ask Anna!
Anna learned the hard way why it is important to listen to your sister when she tells you to stay out of the way when a heated ping pong match is going on! Emily swung and hit the ball and then anna's eye! This is what your eye will look like the next day if you don't heed your sisters warning! The best is that she, in a pain-induced rant, blamed Emily's friend Andrew for her injury because he "was the one who taught Emily to swing so hard!" She did apologize when she had calmed down and is doing better about staying out of the way when the ping-pong table is in use!
January 2012 Top Ten...in no particular order!
10. Celebrated both my grandma's birthday days! Grandma Elyse is in town staying with Aunt Julie so we hosted a birthday dinner for her at Nana's and had a great time! Grandma Hansen is down south in St. George but I had a fun visit with her on the phone on her birthday! Both such inspiring women! I love my grandmas!!!!! So many fun memories past and present!
9. Rob and I actually made it to a movie together, sans kiddos. We don't make it out to the movie theater to often so when we do, it is reason to celebrate...although we had to go to the 5 o'clock show (Rob went straight from work and I met him there), make arrangements for Emily to get picked up from dance by a friend, and rush to get home so the teenagers could make it to a couple of Junior Jazz basketball games (as spectators not players)! By the way, we saw Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and really enjoyed it (Rob likes Sherlock Holmes, Rachel really, really likes Sherlock Holmes) and Centerville has a new Megaplex theater complex which simplifies seeing movies for us!
8. End of the 1st semester of school for the 2011-2012 school year! Which means we are now more than half-way through the school year and report cards arrived! Kudos to my kiddos, who all did fantastic for the most part!!!! And the grades that weren't "A"s were grades that had improved from the previous report card. Hard work pays-off, right guys?!? Speaking of school, we got to attend SEP conferences with Lizzie and Anna. Glowing reports from both their teachers. They both have fantastic teachers this year and they are both learning so much! Ms. Cox and Mrs. Howell rock! Anna was just telling us yesterday a story about the third president of the United States. She mentioned that he had red hair as part of the story and I told her she must be mistaken because Thomas Jefferson didn't have red hair! She emphatically replied, "If he was the guy who lived at "Mont-i-Cello" he had red hair!" I came home and googled it and guess what, Thomas Jefferson did have red hair! And along the school days lines: Three out of the four weeks this month were 4 day-school weeks! We love those! Wish I could say we did something significant but to be honest I can't remember. I do know on Martin Luther King Day some of us headed to dinner with the extended Howe clan to our favorite Cowboy Grub while the rest of us headed to an emergency dental appointment that ended up being pain from a six-year-old molar that was trying to come in in Davey's mouth! Life with kids...you never know!
7. January means Book Group Book Choosing night for me and my book-group gals! It is always a fun night and we really have the system perfected. We started with about 36 titles and narrowed it down to 11! If anyone needs some help figuring out a great and efficient way of whittling down their groups book picks, give me a ring and I will fill you in! We had a great list to choose from again this year and I had a hard time deciding where to throw my support but we ended up with a great list! Surprisingly, two of the books I didn't vote for were two that I have read since we picked and loved them both! Crazy! Hope the ones I did vote for are as good! Haha! I don't host until November. Since we finished our house but still have not much landscaping, I always try and snag early spring or later fall to host so I don't have to worry about the bare yard! Haha! Not that any of them would care...but you know how it goes! Anyways, here is this year picks in case you are looking for some good reads:
6. Abby participated in her first volleyball tournament. It was actually just an inter-squad tourney but it still was a lot of fun. Her last game of the day was against a U13 Power (competitive) team. Abby plays for the U14 Club (since she is an August birthday she plays with the U14 by 4 days...when she decided to switch from dance to volleyball we went with the Club team...next year I think we will move to a Power team...). Abby's team was a year older but they are all beginners for the most part. They went the first two games neck and neck, each winning one. The third game is played to 15 but you have to win by two. Abby's team ended up losing 20-18, which if you are familiar with volleyball means it was a very exciting final game!! The crazy thing was that Abby's coach actually is the coach for both teams! Made it even more exciting!
5. The YM/YW in our ward headed to Z-Park (our stake's property) for their annual Mutual Theme kick-off with the Bishopric. It was an overnighter and I think it was fun for everyone! The theme this year is ARISE AND SHINE FORTH. It is a tradition that Rob and his counselors started and that the kids in our ward love! The girls are lucky because they get to sleep in the lodge with the heat (remember we are talking January in the Wasatch Mountains) but the boys have to sleep in the cabins with no heat! Rob actually sleep in the Suburban with a space heater that he ran with a long extension cord to the lodge! Said he was toasty warm! It was a bittersweet time because the bishopric kinda knew that it might be their last over-night outing with all the youth! While they were gone, Natalie and her kids came over for dinner and a movie night. The kids ate pizza and Natalie and I got some yummy grown-up pizza and salad and then they watched movies in the basement while we watched Persuasion upstairs. Half-way through some of Emily's friends showed up (even though she was out-of-town) and visited with us for a while! That was fun. She has really great friends!
4. And they were right! January 29th rolled around and Rob was released as Bishop of our ward. He has served faithfully as a committed and humble man, continually striving to do what the Lord would have him do. I think that he might even deserve his very own post! Watch for it, it will be coming soon!
3. Davey finally moved on from working on his "G"s at Talking Time to focusing on his "K" sound! He has worked hard and diligently since school started on his G's. Every Wednesday, we head down the street to a Headstart location for Davis School District where he spends and an hour at Talking Time. There are about five other kids and their adult (parent or grandparent). We rotate around to different learning centers where we play fun games that help him with his speech. At two the stations he actually works with speech therapists who he really adores. If you haven't noticed, when you make a G sound you have to pull your tongue down and back. If you don't and it stays forward your G becomes a T. I knew he was making progress one day a few months ago when he brought me a toy dinosaur with sharp teeth and a tongue right behind its teeth. "Mom", Davey said, "The dinosaur is making T sounds instead of G sounds! His tongue isn't back enough!" Smart boy!!! He still doesn't get the G all the time in his regular conversations but he is getting better and when he thinks about it he always gets it! And considering where he has come from as a two-year old that only made deep, throaty growling sounds I am pretty amazed!
2. Emily played her very first competitive singles match! For the high school in the fall she only played doubles but she is playing in a winter league on Saturday nights and has discovered that she loves singles. She was so nervous to start but once she got going she loved it! They play for 55 minutes and whoever wins the most games (no add) in the time frame is the winner. While she lost 9-7, she played better than I had ever seen her and really had a blast! (She and her doubles partner won that night as well). It was a fun evening and even more fun because she played at the tennis club near Nana and Papa's home so they came to watch too. After words, she left with her friend Andrew to hang out with some friends and Rob and I discovered that Kneaders has all their treats 1/2 off on Saturday night! We splurged and the kids had a yummy Sunday morning breakfast! The raspberry bread pudding is out of this world!!!
1. Lizzie and her dear friend, Meg, who moved last autumn got to have a couple of weekend late-overs this month! We miss the Murri's so much and long to hop the fence to visit like the good old days (prior to their move)! Luckily, they didn't move to far so we still get to hang-out but it does take a little more planning that it used to take! While they beg for sleepovers, lateovers will have to suffice until they are older! We love having Meg around with her brown eyes, beautiful skin, and very kind heart!
9. Rob and I actually made it to a movie together, sans kiddos. We don't make it out to the movie theater to often so when we do, it is reason to celebrate...although we had to go to the 5 o'clock show (Rob went straight from work and I met him there), make arrangements for Emily to get picked up from dance by a friend, and rush to get home so the teenagers could make it to a couple of Junior Jazz basketball games (as spectators not players)! By the way, we saw Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and really enjoyed it (Rob likes Sherlock Holmes, Rachel really, really likes Sherlock Holmes) and Centerville has a new Megaplex theater complex which simplifies seeing movies for us!
8. End of the 1st semester of school for the 2011-2012 school year! Which means we are now more than half-way through the school year and report cards arrived! Kudos to my kiddos, who all did fantastic for the most part!!!! And the grades that weren't "A"s were grades that had improved from the previous report card. Hard work pays-off, right guys?!? Speaking of school, we got to attend SEP conferences with Lizzie and Anna. Glowing reports from both their teachers. They both have fantastic teachers this year and they are both learning so much! Ms. Cox and Mrs. Howell rock! Anna was just telling us yesterday a story about the third president of the United States. She mentioned that he had red hair as part of the story and I told her she must be mistaken because Thomas Jefferson didn't have red hair! She emphatically replied, "If he was the guy who lived at "Mont-i-Cello" he had red hair!" I came home and googled it and guess what, Thomas Jefferson did have red hair! And along the school days lines: Three out of the four weeks this month were 4 day-school weeks! We love those! Wish I could say we did something significant but to be honest I can't remember. I do know on Martin Luther King Day some of us headed to dinner with the extended Howe clan to our favorite Cowboy Grub while the rest of us headed to an emergency dental appointment that ended up being pain from a six-year-old molar that was trying to come in in Davey's mouth! Life with kids...you never know!
7. January means Book Group Book Choosing night for me and my book-group gals! It is always a fun night and we really have the system perfected. We started with about 36 titles and narrowed it down to 11! If anyone needs some help figuring out a great and efficient way of whittling down their groups book picks, give me a ring and I will fill you in! We had a great list to choose from again this year and I had a hard time deciding where to throw my support but we ended up with a great list! Surprisingly, two of the books I didn't vote for were two that I have read since we picked and loved them both! Crazy! Hope the ones I did vote for are as good! Haha! I don't host until November. Since we finished our house but still have not much landscaping, I always try and snag early spring or later fall to host so I don't have to worry about the bare yard! Haha! Not that any of them would care...but you know how it goes! Anyways, here is this year picks in case you are looking for some good reads:
Persuasion by Jane Austen and/or The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (high school English anybody?)
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Bonds That Make Us Free by Terry Warner
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua
Destiny of a Republic by Candice Millard
A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean
The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Common Sense by Thomas Paine
6. Abby participated in her first volleyball tournament. It was actually just an inter-squad tourney but it still was a lot of fun. Her last game of the day was against a U13 Power (competitive) team. Abby plays for the U14 Club (since she is an August birthday she plays with the U14 by 4 days...when she decided to switch from dance to volleyball we went with the Club team...next year I think we will move to a Power team...). Abby's team was a year older but they are all beginners for the most part. They went the first two games neck and neck, each winning one. The third game is played to 15 but you have to win by two. Abby's team ended up losing 20-18, which if you are familiar with volleyball means it was a very exciting final game!! The crazy thing was that Abby's coach actually is the coach for both teams! Made it even more exciting!
5. The YM/YW in our ward headed to Z-Park (our stake's property) for their annual Mutual Theme kick-off with the Bishopric. It was an overnighter and I think it was fun for everyone! The theme this year is ARISE AND SHINE FORTH. It is a tradition that Rob and his counselors started and that the kids in our ward love! The girls are lucky because they get to sleep in the lodge with the heat (remember we are talking January in the Wasatch Mountains) but the boys have to sleep in the cabins with no heat! Rob actually sleep in the Suburban with a space heater that he ran with a long extension cord to the lodge! Said he was toasty warm! It was a bittersweet time because the bishopric kinda knew that it might be their last over-night outing with all the youth! While they were gone, Natalie and her kids came over for dinner and a movie night. The kids ate pizza and Natalie and I got some yummy grown-up pizza and salad and then they watched movies in the basement while we watched Persuasion upstairs. Half-way through some of Emily's friends showed up (even though she was out-of-town) and visited with us for a while! That was fun. She has really great friends!
4. And they were right! January 29th rolled around and Rob was released as Bishop of our ward. He has served faithfully as a committed and humble man, continually striving to do what the Lord would have him do. I think that he might even deserve his very own post! Watch for it, it will be coming soon!
3. Davey finally moved on from working on his "G"s at Talking Time to focusing on his "K" sound! He has worked hard and diligently since school started on his G's. Every Wednesday, we head down the street to a Headstart location for Davis School District where he spends and an hour at Talking Time. There are about five other kids and their adult (parent or grandparent). We rotate around to different learning centers where we play fun games that help him with his speech. At two the stations he actually works with speech therapists who he really adores. If you haven't noticed, when you make a G sound you have to pull your tongue down and back. If you don't and it stays forward your G becomes a T. I knew he was making progress one day a few months ago when he brought me a toy dinosaur with sharp teeth and a tongue right behind its teeth. "Mom", Davey said, "The dinosaur is making T sounds instead of G sounds! His tongue isn't back enough!" Smart boy!!! He still doesn't get the G all the time in his regular conversations but he is getting better and when he thinks about it he always gets it! And considering where he has come from as a two-year old that only made deep, throaty growling sounds I am pretty amazed!
2. Emily played her very first competitive singles match! For the high school in the fall she only played doubles but she is playing in a winter league on Saturday nights and has discovered that she loves singles. She was so nervous to start but once she got going she loved it! They play for 55 minutes and whoever wins the most games (no add) in the time frame is the winner. While she lost 9-7, she played better than I had ever seen her and really had a blast! (She and her doubles partner won that night as well). It was a fun evening and even more fun because she played at the tennis club near Nana and Papa's home so they came to watch too. After words, she left with her friend Andrew to hang out with some friends and Rob and I discovered that Kneaders has all their treats 1/2 off on Saturday night! We splurged and the kids had a yummy Sunday morning breakfast! The raspberry bread pudding is out of this world!!!
1. Lizzie and her dear friend, Meg, who moved last autumn got to have a couple of weekend late-overs this month! We miss the Murri's so much and long to hop the fence to visit like the good old days (prior to their move)! Luckily, they didn't move to far so we still get to hang-out but it does take a little more planning that it used to take! While they beg for sleepovers, lateovers will have to suffice until they are older! We love having Meg around with her brown eyes, beautiful skin, and very kind heart!
Friday, February 3, 2012
Coming Out Of The Closet...
So, I have been giving my blog some thought....hmmmmmmm...and well, I have decided that the reason I blog is to record my family's history for me and for them. I mean I do enjoy catching up with loved ones, close and far, through their blogs and I do enjoy the occasional comment on my blog but when it comes right down to it, this blog is a way that I can preserve the happenings in my family's life...especially since I am not a scrapbooker or even a very good journaler! I still haven't put together one of those "blog books" but I am going to...hint, hint, mother's day maybe? So in thinking about turning my blog into a hard copy to remember forever, I wonder if my "nicknames" will cause confusion years down the road. I felt, initially, they were necessary to protect my kids from stranger danger but in watching the traffic my blog gets...I don't think it is an issue! Plus, I posted my Christmas Card and if you look close, it has all our names on it! Get out! Right there in print! So, therefore, the nicknames are gone and we are coming out of the closet with our real names! Drumroll, please.....
CHOCHO: Rachel...yep it is usually me that you have to listen to rambling on and on and on...
SENIOR: Rob...my handsome and hardworking better half...
BERNINA: Emily or Emi, currently enjoying high school...Go BRAVES!
GIADA: Abigail or Abby, currently enjoying junior high...Go EAGLES!
SLICK: Elizabeth or Lizzie, currently embracing her curls...FINALLY!
QUEEN BUBS: Anna May or Annie, currently talking and talking...and TALKING!
JUNIOR: David or for as long as it will last DAVEY, currently playing the role of the typical little brother...slyly PUSHING BUTTONS!
Phew, I did it! And it feels good! Now for getting us all caught up (yes, I am going to attempt to get 2011 covered) and ready to start a new year of blogging...only a month and 3 days late! Enjoy!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Summer 2011 Top Twelve...in no particular order!
 |
| CAA 2011-2012 Topaz Team |
 |
| Go Abby! |
 |
| Emi and Lexi EFY 2012 |
 |
| I have hundreds of pictures the kids have taking doing "photo shoots!" Impossible to decide which to post! |
 |
| August 2011 Bear Lake with The Naegles |
 |
| June 2011 Howe Family Cabin |
 |
| St. George June 2011 |
 |
| Summer Fun 2011! |
 |
| Mode of Transport to tennis courts: Scooter Dedicated tennis partner: Andrew |
 |
| We will be there every year! |
 |
| Meeting Trapper! |
 |
| Maplewood Summer Camps 2011 |
 |
| Davey loves Andrew's wheels! |
 |
| We even got to see the Adams Family there too! |
 |
| No more tears! It used to be tough for a 13 year old to compete with a 1 year old on her birthday! Poor Missa...I am sorry we weren't more sensitive! But now just happy birthday girls! |
 |
| Holbrook Canyon, just five minutes from our house! Sadly, the only picture of me in this post is on an early-morning hike! Scary! We had to say a prayer half-way up because Lizzie's fear of mountain lions was literally paralyzing her! We made it back safely! |
 |
| You don't get much cuter than this! |
September 2011 Top Ten
10. BHS Tennis season is in full-swing! Lots of fun in the sun watching Emily play! They even get to travel to St. George for a tourney!
9. Abby works hard at manager for the BJH Volleyball team and learns some great skills along the way!
8. Anna decides to take a creative dance class at CAA just down the street and around the corner!
7. Lizzie works hard at her new dance studio CAA in the Topaz Company!
6. Rob actually lets Emily go on a few motorcycle rides with Andrew! She says they take away the school stress!
5. Emily and Abby learn the ropes at junior and senior high! It is kinda of an emotional month for the higher schooler trying to figure it all out but she does enjoy it too!
4. Rachel bottles a few tomatoes from our garden. Wishes it was more!
3. Emily heads up to the Naegle cabin at Bear Lake again! Lucky girl!
2. High school football begins! Go Braves!
1. We finally get family pictures taken! We haven't done that since Emily was one!!!!!
9. Abby works hard at manager for the BJH Volleyball team and learns some great skills along the way!
8. Anna decides to take a creative dance class at CAA just down the street and around the corner!
7. Lizzie works hard at her new dance studio CAA in the Topaz Company!
6. Rob actually lets Emily go on a few motorcycle rides with Andrew! She says they take away the school stress!
5. Emily and Abby learn the ropes at junior and senior high! It is kinda of an emotional month for the higher schooler trying to figure it all out but she does enjoy it too!
4. Rachel bottles a few tomatoes from our garden. Wishes it was more!
3. Emily heads up to the Naegle cabin at Bear Lake again! Lucky girl!
2. High school football begins! Go Braves!
1. We finally get family pictures taken! We haven't done that since Emily was one!!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)