Sherem

Yesterday's Sunday School discussion was on Sherem.  I think I kind of grew up with Sherem Dad.  I remember thinking when my Dad told me he wasn't even sure there was a Christ...Holy Cow.  Even on his mission he was out there teaching people but wasn't really sure Christ was Christ and not just some good guy in history.  WOW just wow.  He taught Gospel Doctrine while he was inebriated and people thought he gave an outstanding lesson.  Drove my mom NUTS.  Since his death I've had two pretty strong witnesses about eternal progression and that we continue to learn beyond this life.  I'm grateful for the Sherem in my life.  I know Christ is real and that we all will continue to grow and progress even after this life.

Sunday

"Sun" day. A "day of rest". I think figuring out Sundays while out of town is tricky. We hit 9am sacrament and after the bread and water there was literally "no room in the inn" as in no chairs available. We came back to the house had our own family testimony meeting. (Followed by some vitamin D therapy). #itwasawesome Each of my kids bore their testimony and it was just wow. Talk about a mom treat. 

The out of town workout

I needed a bench and a weighted medicine ball for my workout. Stairs and a bowl of flour and rice will do. 

Utah V So Cal

I

GO UTES!  Double date with our friends the Fosters...and Rems. Cute Josie had a wardrobe malfunction with her pants. Smiths grocery store to the rescue!  We came home with the win!

Sunday drive

Headed north to check on he cabin. Man that lake is BLUE

Holy slow progress!

Photo a day...keeps the blues away.

Trying a new deal to keep up on this blog. Photo a day. Today I am trying  to make cabin decisions. It should be fun but it's kind of stressful. I get nervous I'm going to screw it up. 

the Middle...I think

At some point I really will figure out how to be current on this blog.  My littles are not so little anymore and it's crazy to me how fast time flies.  There should be a name for the phase we are in.  I don't have babies anymore but I don't have full on dating teens either. The first quarter of the middle?

Primary

My current calling is Primary Chorister: Reverence is not my specialty, however I am fun and sometimes even have the spirit there.  Today I was in normal energetic form and there was a newer (older) couple there.  I got a half smile from her and he just looked at me with a mix of Deer in the Head Lights and "What in the HELL?" I'm hoping he knows the church is still true and He will come back next week.

DKD TKT

Do Kind Deeds Think Kind Thoughts the DKD TKT group. Started when we were 8. How the heck did we get to be 40?? The group was started by our Mootzie. We would get together once or twice a year. Our moms and dads are cousins.  Make me happy to know these are such fabulous women and awesome mamas!

Sum-mer better than others

What is my deal with summer??? When I was working.  Summers were a rush of hurry and get through the work day and get home to take the kids to cherry hill or lagoon or...something like that..I remember the summer I had Noah thinking Holy Buckets this stay at home gig is DEMANDING.  I figured I had a new baby I had not scheduled enough for the kids to do....the next summer I scheduled too much for the kids to do and the last couple summers I have tried to hit a perfect mix of schedule, no schedule, chores, camping, swimming, boating..and then August hits and its football football football...and I CAN NOT find a rhythm, my summer mojo, I don't know what to call it. But it's like I can't make it click.

Literacy program

Tutoring at Gigis playhouse with Aubrey is the best.

55 miles

This could have been a disaster. We crossed a set of rail tracks and went down like dominos.... Cars coming in all directions. Yikes!  Fun beautiful ride!

Monica, Me, Sidney, Ann

Lagoon dance comp

Last comp of the season. Zoe had to borrow some shoes to go ride rides.  HA those are NOT lagoon shoes!

In the moment of happy.

Had some moments of questioning my mom skills this morning. I think satan took a minute to whisper in my ear "you are doing it all wrong" and I know that isn't true but I love these little spirits so much I can't bear to get it wrong. All of the above was making me quite sad.
Enough of that. In this moment, this is what is making me happy:
Rain turning my grass green. Green grass makes me crazy happy.
Being home to hear my children walk in the door and ask for me.
Nice weather to have the kids playing outside.
Remy despite a bleeding bum making it home with dry pants.
A husband who loves me and wants my booty.

Open open open

So excited to have a full summer with this thing.  It's warmed up and ready to go!

Cow-a-bunga baby!  The last pic I took tonight.  I think a found a new happy spot.

Soccer for Noah

Bubble boys

Oh the happiness that a little bit of bubbles can bring!

Dancing with friends

If you're gonna dance...dance with friends!

3 solos

I had my friends two daughters to get ready as well as my own.  YOWZA there is a reason God did not send me three dancing daughters.  I would be in the nut house.  Although these three cuties were pretty awesome.

Football and more football

Football drills in my kitchen before school starts...

Everyone does this right?

So I thought football was a seasonal thing... Literally it is; pictured above is my spice cabinet lined up is some defense or offense pattern they were discussing.  

Smile with your whole face

I just love these two!

That twitch in my eye

Sometimes the week starts on Sunday or Monday but this week of crazy started last Friday.
Zoe had a big day at school with her wax museum and presentation.  All went well
We rushed her home from school to prep for her first solo.  She is pretty calm about this stuff.  I'm the one that wants to puke.  Her music wouldn't play.  Luckily I had an extra disc.  She did great.  But took 4th place.  Her good friend in a different division took Queen.  She was devastated.  Like I've never seen her this crushed.  AAAH the work of being a mom.  Teaching your kids how to handle this.....Saturday was the normal crazy.  Sunday morning Brian left for a work trip.  I got all the kids ready,  wrote Noah's talk and did the prep for both jr and sr singing time.  Sitting in sacrament I saw this little brown thing about the size of a sesame seed move by Zoe's neck.  Two weeks ago a girl she dances with had lice.  I had been watching her head like a hawk.  CRAP.  I waited until the speaker finished, dumped my singing time stuff and we literally bolted out of sacrament.  Home,  inspected her head, found no other bugs but found what could be little lice eggs or could be dandruff. UGG what to do.  I had heard horror stories of people having lice in their homes, infecting the whole family and taking like a month to get rid of.  Lets just say I over treated her and followed every protocol I could find on how to clean everything in your house, every piece of bedding, laundry... you name it.  The piles of laundry were huge.  And did I mention her hair is SOOOO long.  I might have trimmed off 4 inches.  I've never cut hair in my life...it's a wee bit crooked.  While doing all the cleaning and laundry, Remy wakes up Monday morning with a poop explosion... more laundry.  Tuesday Noah wakes up with a cough and a fever and Wednesday when Brian was finally home we headed to Costco and literally out of the clear blue sky I needed to puke...totally made him pull over on I15 so I could hurl my guts.  WHAT the heck??? Carrot pieces coming out your nose is NOT pretty!!  Today is Wednesday. Cleaning is complete.  I keep checking heads, so far so good, and now I have twitch in my right eye.  For the love.
The best part of the week was Sunday night.
Zoe wisdom:
Driving home from Grandma's  Noah asks,
"When am I going to die"
Me, "WhAt?"
Cambridge "When you are old"
Noah "Will I be made alive again"
Me "Yes during the second coming... in fact it will be interesting because Remy won't have Down Syndrome when he is resurrected"
Zoe "Why not"
Me "Because he will be perfected"
Zoe "But mom he already is perfect"
Stop my beating heart I love this girl
Me "yep Zoe he is"

Jesus Said Love Everyone

I am currently the primary Chorister.  Mostly I LOVE this job.  Totally funny to me how as I've prayed about things lately, or questioned things, the answers seem to be coming in the form of song.
The one that has been playing in my head this week is "Jesus said love everyone"  Like to the point I think I am going to put it in vinyl on my wall.

Random thoughts on chairs

At some point I am going to get this thing caught up!!!! At the moment I want to journal.
I can't even remember the name of the show (I'm not the greatest at that kind of thing) but in this particular show this man REALLY likes this woman.  She is divorced with 2 kids and gun shy.  She makes these wicker chairs as her business.  The man comes buy frequently to buy her chairs.  At one point she is like Really? WHERE are you putting all these chairs.  The man keeps buying the chairs.  At one point the man is in a bar a another guy is giving him crap about buying ALL those chairs.  Finally an older wiser man at the bar says basically DUH he buys those chairs because those chairs are "her thing"and because he loves her he is going to "buy her thing" which happens to be chairs.
Sometimes I wonder about the people in my life, that I love, and if I really know 1.what their chairs are and 2. do I buy them? do I support them?

When did they get so big?

Traveling with 2 of your 4 seems like it should be so easy.  Except these 2 love to tease and torment each other.  Sometimes when they snuggle up next to me or try to sit on my lap (In Cam's case squish me)  I wonder how they got so big so fast.  It literally seems like a minute ago they were babies.
I so wish my sister lived closer, I am so grateful to be able to visit.  Siblings are important, Cousins are important, maintaining and strengthening those relationships is something I value.  I do marvel as I age how the differences between my siblings and I are very apparent, yet some things also remain constant.  You all grow up in the same household and you think you will remain the same people, but you don't.  Once we leave the nest we very much become shaped by the new people and the new relationships in our lives.  Every time I'm around family I am reminded of a couple of things 1) it is good to belly laugh!  These people have the inside track on you it's just good plain fun. 2) The more people that come into the picture be that kids or spouses the more change is introduced and thus requires a greater amount of patience, understanding, and love.

Texas Style

After the Tea Party and after a nap, we were ready for a little Fun!

Texas tea party for KK

Happy Birthday KK

My Mom,Cam, Zoe and myself made the trek to Texas to see Min and her family for KK's bday.

Mom does a tea party for each of the grand-daughters when they turn nine.  Nine is Divine. 

CJH

Not the best day for these two cousins.  It was Centerville Jr. V Centennial Jr.  Both fought hard but lost their matches.  Thankfully they don't wrestle the same weight class.

Ski Days

Loving that we finally have some decent snow to ski!