The Kid's Music Post

I've been meaning to post about this for a while.  I just realized that late at night and early in the morning, when I'm cozy in my bed, I think in blog posts.  But then never post!  I'm so lazy. :)

To start, I LOVE kids music!  After hearing adult song after song about love, sometimes it's a relief to hear a song about dancing hippos, am I right?!  That's all we listen to in the car and at home, unless James is around.  Then we listen to "Dad's music" (radio), which gets a groan from all of us.  :)  My current favorites:

Raffi- the biggest name in kid's music, if you have to start somewhere, start here.  I love his mellow voice, and it's always good calming music.  And I like that he sings about real stuff, like Jane Goodall, Canada, American Indians, and bananaphones.  Baby Beluga is a favorite.

John Lithgow- I know, the actor!  He is so expressive and fun to listen to.  Singin' in the Bathtub was his first album, and my favorite.  I can just picture him singing, having the best time.  

Justin Roberts- I've actually been to a concert of his, so fun!  These are definitely songs for dancing and having a good time.  His Meltdown album is good, but his most recent, Popfly, is my most favoritest.  

Steve Roslonek- I guess he's getting pretty famous, being on PBS and having performed at the White House easter egg roll.  His album Marvelous Day is so fun.  Spurtle the Turtle is my favorite.  And Fast Monkey. :)  This is fun upbeat music too.

Jessica Harper- I like her rich, mellow voice.  And her talking/singing style that makes it seem like she was just talking to her kids and turned it into a song.  Rhythm in Her Shoes is our favorite.

Tom Chapin- kid's folk music.  He also sings about cool stuff, like the origin of ragtime, recycling, shyness, and lemonade stands.  Check out Billy the Squid first, we love the Ghost of Bleak House.  Brighton and Brooklyn can pretty much sing the thing from memory. (Okay, I can too.)

So there you have it folks, a good starting list.  Wait, I forgot Sandra Boynton!  Check out all of her CDs, they are great.  Philadelphia Chickens has Kevin Bacon, Kevin Cline, Meryl Streep, Laura Linney and more performing.  Happy listening!! 

Blessings

Whenever I start to think that I am having the yuckiest time ever, blessings start slapping me in the face. Which is exactly what I need when I'm feeling sorry for myself. Yes, I do have down days. Even though I have exceptionally easy kids and a wonderfully helpful husband. Sometimes my positive attitude can't pull me through.

One of my biggest problems is that I feel that I (well, we)have to struggle and work so hard for things. Especially of the financial sort. Jobs never land in our laps, even though my husband is such a great employee that every employer he has ever had lavishes him with compliments and raises. See, another blessing. Even though James started out at a measly $7.5o an hour a few months ago, he's already been given an un-heard of $1 raise. Stuff like that. I feel like if things are crappy, if I just wait and have patience and faith, I see the blessings. So it's hard to be down for very long. :)

Anyways, what was I saying? Oh yeah, struggling. Maybe this is what life is like- budgeting and being careful and doing without. I'm getting pretty good at it, it's just the Christmas season. At first I can't think of anything I need, but after a few days, the list gets longer and longer. Why can't I have $150 boots, huh? But I do live pretty comfortably and have three clean happy kids- and so on. So why gripe about having less shoes than the average female?

I think all these tight budget years are to teach me a lesson. James doesn't need to learn it- he's happy with 20 bucks a month to spend on fast food. If only I could be so content! :) It's definitely me.

I can't remember my point now. Just that I'm thankful for my blessings!

great gift idea

I just saw these on a friend's blog, and I think they are so creative and unique.  I never enter these contests, because I feel like there is zip chance of me winning, but here's hoping... :)

www.unlikelyletters.blogspot.com

My Latest Creation

I am so proud of this!! The pictures really don't do it justice. (I've tried a couple times to rotate the pics but it's not working, so sorry for the neck cramp.) I saw this advent calendar in the December issue of Parents magazine, and wanted to whip it up myself. Although the instructions were not as exact as I like (so I could copy it exactly and not have to do any hard thinking). This is all out of felt, and the ornaments go in the pockets for the girls to take out one a day until Christmas. I want to make a really nice one involving a nativity instead of a tree eventually, but that will wait a few years until I have the time and moolah.

These ornaments I designed myself!! I'm really pleased with how they turned out, considering my lack of artistic ability. I still need 4 more, 2 snowflakes and 2 gingerbread men. I have tried two nights in a row to come up with them, with no success. Help me Rachel! :) So, I'm leaving those until the last and will keep plugging away.

Anyway, this was fun for me to make, and only cost $9! Merry Christmas!

Family Week

We've had a really great week.  James finished classes last Saturday, so we have all enjoyed the family time together.  On Monday we had FHE, on Tuesday we all went to the dollar movie theater and saw Wall-E.  On Wednesday the kids and I rode the bus to campus to have lunch with Daddy.  It's an idea that I got from my sis-in-law, and I want to do it once a semester.  The kids loooved riding the bus.  I was a little nervous about catching the right one and keeping track of my 3 kids and double stroller, but we made it there and back like old hats.  Thursday was Thanksgiving, of course.  James' parents drove from Davenport (3 hrs) to spend the day.  All James let me do was sweet potatoes and cranberry jelly.  Thanksgiving feast is definitely his show. :)  I still say that I could have done a better job with the rolls.  Ah well, maybe next year.

I finished up a few projects that I will try to get pictures up tomorrow.  Curtains for the girls' room and a Christmas advent calendar!  Fun for me to work on!!  

Catch-up: Halloween

I'm finally home! I've never been so happy to be in my little apartment and look after my little family. :) Here are some pictures of our Halloween- The costumes I seriously made the night before, since I had just gotten home from Phoenix. Not that hard- I found Brooklyn's on familyfun.com and is just made out of craft foam. I made up Logan's cowboy outfit with brown fabric for the vest and chaps. Brighton wanted to be a princess, so her special touch was a crown made out of foil and glued-on gems.

The loot! I couldn't get them to look up for a picture. :)

What Logan and I did on Halloween night while Brighton and Brooklyn went trick-or-treating with Daddy.

On the road again...

Yesterday I drove to Wichita to help out my family. Well, I guess I should say something about my trip to Phoenix. It was tough seeing my mom in the Neuro ICU. She couldn't really talk, and was hooked up to all these tubes and things. Her left eye was a little droopy from her surgery. And it was hard when the nurses would come in every shift and ask her questions, like her name. She couldn't remember it. She had a hard time understanding what they were saying and wanted her to do. After a few days there, she got to move out of the ICU into the acute ward. That was much better as they didn't have to bother her as often. My dad had a hotel room, but we (meaning Christy, my mom's sister who was there from the beginning) pretty much stayed at the hospital the whole time, only going back to shower and change clothes. We ate peanut butter and honey sandwiches and any leftovers from mom's hospital plate. :) We took turns sleeping on the couch and recliner.

It was really neat to see her start physical and occupational therapy. She was trying to hard, and it was encouraging to see her be able to do things like brush her teeth. And starting to walk again. She improved a lot every day.

Anyway, I won't say too much about the hospital because she's doing so much better now. I was there for a week, then flew home for a week before driving out. It's only a 7 hour drive, so not too bad. I brought the kids, but James has to finish up the semester. The plan was for Mom to be in a rehab hospital here for 2-6 weeks, but she was done with that after 4 days. She really didn't need to be there. So she came home yesterday, and she's been doing really well. I get my kids up and fed, then I go upstairs and wake her up and help her shower and get ready for the day, and then I get myself and my kids showered and ready for the day. My mom is walking so great now, without a walker or any help. She can't walk too far because she does get tired. And I usually hold her hand so I can tell if she's getting off balance. Because of the stroke, she's partially blind in her right eye. She hasn't adjusted to it yet so she runs into stuff a lot because she can't see it. She's talking a lot more, even though it doesn't always come out right. When asked today how tall she is, she guessed eight feet. :)

Right now, she always needs someone to be with her. And to help her get her meals and take her medication. Part of that seems weird, but really she is doing soooo much better than when I first saw her after the stroke. And I'm glad that I got to be with her at the hospital, because I don't think I would have realized what she has recovered from. She has been so strong, even when she was scared because she didn't know what was going on. I'm so glad that I could give back a little.

Fairy Dance

Our library had a fairy dance the Saturday before I left for Phoenix. It wasn't quite as sumptuous an affair as the Fairy Tea at the Provo library, but it was still fun. :)

I learned my lesson last time, that half the fun is taking time to get all dressed up. They let me curl their hair and everything!!

Some gals from ISU came and did a short ballet, then led them through some fairy stretches and such that sounded similar to a beginning ballet class. The girls had a good time!

Reiman Butterfly Garden

We visited the Reiman Gardens- part of ISU campus- a few weeks ago. 14 acres of beautiful grassy hills, stone walkways, lake and rose gardens. The lake is in the background here.

There is a children's garden that has a current theme of trains, as well as an exhibit garden with the Moby Dick theme. My kids love the fish ponds, the little stream and running up and down these hills.

Here's the white whale himself. Isn't this amazing?!! It's all out of twigs. When I visited the gardens a few years ago the exhibit was out of actual cars that had been "planted" the ground. Really cool.

Cute little house at the end of a maze of walkways separated by really cool prairie grass. I didn't get any pictures of the best part- the butterfly house. There is a U-shaped walk inside with a butterfly habitat. There are so many butterflies in there that they land on the ground, the walls, and on you. It's nice and warm and has lots of flowers and trees and bowls of sugar water. The colors and sizes of all the butterflies are amazing! I don't stay too long in there as I constantly worry that someone is going to step or grab one. :) There is also a case of all the cocoons so you can usually see several butterflies emerging and drying their wings. So cool! (Compared with BYU's Bean Museum- the good ol' Y is sadly lacking :)

Going gothic

So, I paid $80 for this color job!! I swear I told her dark brown, and pointed out a color to match- but as you can see, it's black.

I thought the girls would say something, but they didn't. Until a few days later, on Sunday, when Brighton was pointing out her friend "that has black hair, like you!" :)

I need to have it fixed, but haven't been able to get in, and now I'm leaving for a week. Maybe I'll wait and get it done after Halloween. :)

My mother

Well, a lot has been going on. My mom had a go-kart accident (I know, crazy) a few months back which revealed that she had a brain anuerism. It was determined that because of the size and location of it (kind of sitting on her brain stem) she needed to see one of the leading neuroligists in Pheonix, Arizona. She flew there for surgery last Friday. The surgery went well, but after a few days she still hadn't woken up. After lots of tests and waiting, it was discovered that she had had a stroke, and her brain was swelling a bit. She's still expected to gain everything back, except maybe her right peripheral vision. The news of how she's doing seems to change hourly, and it's been hard to get the information to so many people. (8 kids, remember?)

It looks like she's starting to recover, but it's going to be slow going. I'm flying out this Sunday to stay with her at the hospital for a week. She has her good friend Christy there, which has been a big help. I've been through so many different plans this week- driving to Kansas to be with my younger siblings, flying to AZ, my older sister flying here, finding friends to watch the kids, etc. I'm so tired of thinking! I'm glad to have a solid plan locked in. My younger sister McKenna is flying here to help watch the kids while James is at work and class.

This has been so scary for me. I feel like she's going to be okay. It has been really stressful to find things out a piece a time, especially for the few days when she just wasn't waking up. We didn't know whether to be worried or not. I'm really glad to be in a position to go and be with my mom. And I'm glad for the priesthood- she's had several blessings. We've also fasted for her recovery. It's brought our family closer together as we all try to help out.

Michael Buble!

So, this picture might be on the large size, but I'm a little excited. :)  My sweet sweet wonderful husband, who likes to surprise me from time to time, just unveiled his latest- I'm going to a Michael Buble concert!!  Next Wednesday!!  Woohoo!!!!

The only concert I've been to was to Neil Diamond back when we were engaged.  And, he's getting kind of old. :)  Look at this cutie!

I woke up on Sunday, relaxed in bed, had my breakfast.  Then I followed trails of popcorn (which Logan gleefully picked up) to clues and treats throughout the house.  

I'm so grateful for such a wonderful husband- I don't know what I find to complain about, but of course I do. :)  Thanks honey!!

Faces of Brooklyn

Here are some pics of the cutie. She had two dry days and then four accidents in one day! One on my bed and another at the mall. Sigh! But since then, no problems. She is one easy kid.

Brooklyn-

An update of our snugglebug. Brooklyn's biggest achievement has been staying dry(in potty-training language)! I think she would have been fine to start training months ago, but I didn't want to complicate the move. So we waited, and she practically did it all herself!! I remind her, but she pretty much goes herself. I'm really grateful that was so easy, as I know it is not always the case. And I'm sure there are accidents coming, when I'm at the store and have a cartful of food. I'm not that naive. :)



She loves to say HEY! She says it all the time. Brooklyn is probably my child that needs me the least, which is good and bad. I love that she can entertain herself, but I don't want to ignore her just because she doesn't require a lot.

She loves to play and pretend, especially with Brighton. She usually goes along with whatever Brighton has cooked up. She's at that tricky age when she still needs a nap, but won't take one. Brighton had "quiet time" until she was at least 3 1/2; alone in her room listening to tapes and reading books. I'm trying that with Brooklyn, but she will only cooperate for about 30 min. Oh, well. That's enough time for me to do school with Brighton. My next task will be taking away Brooklyn's blanky and thumb. Always so hard!

Brooklyn loves her daddy best of all. She loves to dance and be a princess. She loves to snuggle. We sure love her!

Pancakes

Breakfast this morning:

Brooklyn ate 1
Brighton ate 2
Logan ate 5 ?!?
:)

It's stronger than shoe love...

It's bedspread love! As poor college students, we make do with what we have, or go without. My bed is one example. For the first few months we were married, James and I slept on an air mattress. Finally, we had saved up enough to buy a mattress set at an RC Willey Outlet. We didn't have a blanket large enough to cover it, so we used two or three twin blankets. Last year, I found a bed frame on craigslist- selling at $300. It had been on there a while, so I offered $100. She let me have it for $150. Steal! It had some gouges, but I filled them in with a brown sharpie. :) And the latest upgrade: A new king-sized bedspread!! I love it! My bedroom is slowly coming together. Slowly- notice the blue storage tubs being used as nightstands? :) But I love it even more because I've saved and waited to have what I want.

quick tip

James discovered this, and I think it's a great tip!! To cook ears of corn without the pots of boiling water, simply wrap each ear in a paper towel, get wet, and microwave for 3 min per ear. Voila! Perfectly cooked corn every time.

Cute little corn bundles!

Photos of Brighton

These aren't the best, but I wanted to get some pics up. She especially wanted everyone to note her new shoes. :) I feel like I'm constantly buying these kids shoes! They only one pair for church and one for play, so they wear out fast, I guess. And they must be going through a growing season for toes!! Brighton has been cracking James and me up with how formal she's been lately. She calls us mother and father. And in a slightly English accent. :) Silly kiddo!

Brighton

I thought I would give an update on each of the kids.  Brighton is doing so well!  She loves Primary, and was so brave about going to her new class here in Ames.  She really has grown up and become less timid this past year.  I've started doing school with her, just 15 minutes a day.  She's not even five yet, so I keep it really low key.  She really enjoys the just "mommy and Brighton" time, and it's really exciting to be a part of her learning to read.  We've only been doing it for a few weeks, and she can already read 4-5 words, and more each day.  

She has such an imagination, and it's really fun to hear her narrate her playtime.  She is a great friend to Brooklyn most of the time.  Her one downfall is trying to force Brooklyn to do what she wants, which as a mother you know is only going to end up with someone crying. :)  And she can be a little bossy, but we're working with her on that.  She also likes to read Logan books.  (side note: someone came up to me in the library a while ago while the girls were "reading" books to themselves, and after chatting with her for a while I realized that she thought the girls actually were reading!  I was almost sad to correct her, she was so impressed with my mom skills. :))  Books are still a BIG part of her day.  I'm always amazed with how well she can remember a story, or even just figure it out from looking at the pictures!  

Brighton has also given a few FHE lessons.  She especially like to tell about the tree of life and the fountain of filthy water.  She's a good listener- she likes to listen to books on tape, to music (she's really good at figuring out the mood of the music), and to me.  I'll be talking on the phone or to James, and she'll pipe up with "what's that mean?" or something like that.  She's getting older and pays closer attention - I'll have to be careful with what I'm saying!

I'll try to get some pictures of the girl up tomorrow.  We love our Brighton!!

The rest of the house...

This is our litte back porch area, which includes a small storage space. Filled to the brim!
My new friends, Edna and Beatrice. They are no-frills gals, but work hard. So great!! James added the bottom shelf here.
The front room is one big area, there is no dining space in the kitchen. So we're stuck here, eating on top of carpet. I really don't like that, but I have my trusty vacuum always close by.
Up the stairs...
Our upstairs bathroom, or the other bathroom I have to clean. :)
Hall closet

One of the two bedrooms. Most of the toys are here, and the girls sleep on the day/trundle bed. We haven't moved Logan to the crib yet, until all their sleeping schedules are worked out.

Our bedroom. Logan's bedroom. :) We have a pretty large closet, so that's where he is sleeping for now.

So that's it, that's our house! We've already had some adventures in the week and a half we've been here, so I'll keep posting! It was good to see all of your blogs again. Email me if you need my address.

Our new home

Finally!! We had to wait a looong time to get our internet hooked up. Life in the real world is hard- and expensive! You have to pay for cable, internet and phone at $30 bucks a pop, so we're only getting internet. Wymount sure was a fab deal- to my old friends still living there- stay!!

Stay there forever!! :)

I tried to take a video to give you a tour, but it's too dark today- another rainy day. So you'll have to live with a ton of pics.

This is the front of our townhouse. I like the screen door, so I can leave our door open during the nice fall days we've been having.

Our front room. The kids are watching a show- yup, Logan too. He's such visual kid, the girls refused to watch TV until they were at least 2. James' brother gave us a couch, and since we didn't have room for two and the red one was falling apart, we had to get rid of it. I loved that red couch!! Sniff.

The view from the other side of the room.

This was a weird shaped little closet that fit under the stairs, so we just took the door off and made it into a toy closet.

James TWO computers- he managed to get his hands on a Mac. Someone was junking (leaving large things on the side of the road for anyone to have)this computer desk and we grabbed it.

Our downstairs bathroom.








The kitchen. Not too large, but it does have a window! All the cupboards are faced with this blah plastic, so I covered the top cupboards with contact paper. And yes, that is a dishwasher! I named him Mario (thanks Chris!) and you'd think with a name like that he would be really tough and a hard worker, but really he's just a sensitive Italian that you have to pamper or he refuses to work. I'd just do the dishes myself, but that would really hurt his feelings.



I'll have to do the rest of the house in another post, this is going to be really long!

Finally, a picture!

Just washing my mom-in-law's car. The girls and I really have fun washing cars- they start out being helpful, and then become not-so-helpful. As you can see from the pic. :)

Crazy 'bout Backyardigans!

I got a Backyardigan's video as one of the kid's moving surprises, and boy, has it started something. That is ALL they want to watch! Thankfully, it's a show that I heartily approve of. The premise is that these five friends (does anyone know what Uniqua is?) have adventures in their backyard, using their imagination.

Since watching them, my girls have spent hours playing spaceship, lost in the jungle, monsters, pirate ship, and kings- ruler of all the land. Just to name a few. Each 25 minute show has three songs, in all different genre's of music, such as 20's jazz, rock and roll, and polka. Really fun music. And this show has some great animators, because those kids can dance. I've been seriously considering developing an aerobic class featuring their dance moves. :) Watch me now, hey!

The Queste for a decent apartment...

While I was off vacationing with family (a month back), James had the difficult chore of finding our family a place to live in Ames, IA. It was really discouraging at first. All the big apartment complexes only had students, no families. The cheaper places where falling apart and really gross. We had started paperwork with one place only to find some online reviews that gave the complex a big thumbs down. Cops there all the time, drug deals in the front yard, no one cleaning up after their dogs, etc. So James kept on looking and looking and looking. I was thinking- surely familes live here!! We can't be the only students with kids, where are all the families?! James was driving around (he says he stopped at every single place available in the entire city (small city)) when he saw a sign that said there were 2 and 3 bedroom townhomes for rent. He looked them over, and eureka! The landlords ONLY rent to families with kids, there is a playset in the back, and the complex is away from the main roads so the kids could ride their bikes. They only have a 2 bedroom available right now, but it is 900 sq. feet. That's right Wymounters, a 2 bedroom is bigger than our old 3 bedroom apartment! (750 sq. feet) The bottom floor has the kitchen (w/dishwasher), living and dining rooms, and a washer and dryer. Oh, and a bathroom. The top floor has another bathroom, a couple linen closets and the bedrooms. I'm so excited!

The apartments were built back in the 70's, so they are a little old. But they have been kept up well, and the appliances were replaced a couple years ago. It will be hard doing without the third bedroom, but we'll manage. Our apartment isn't available until the 29th, so we'll be here for another few weeks and then drive up Labor Day weekend. We still need to purchase a washer and dryer, but thankfully we planned on needing them and have already saved up. So be looking for some pics in a few weeks!

Go World!!

I just love the Olympics! My family didn't have TV growing up, but when Olympics time came around... we got cable just for two weeks! We even took school off- a benefit of homeschooling. :)

I think the stories about the individual athletes are so inspiring. So many years of hard work and sacrifice and dedication. Is there anything that I have worked as hard to acheive? I'm glad that we have something to acknowledge the years the athletes have spent training.

How about that Michael Phelps! And did you see that there is a 33-year old mom on the German female gymnastics team? I just watched her vault, and she's good! So many amazing people from all over the world.

If you haven't seen the AMAZING men's swimming 1x400 relay, check it out! This is incredible!!
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/share.html?videoid=0811_hd_swb_hl_l0194


GO WORLD!!!

Scripture study

I just finished reading The Book of Mormon.  When Pres. Hinckley gave the church the challenge to read The Book of Mormon, I made the commitment to read it every year.  It's been so great!  I want to start reading it with a different focus each time, and this next time is going to be looking for attributes of the Savior.  I'm going to get a $5 plain copy so I can make lots of notes and markings.  I like reading "naked" scriptures so I read everything fresh.  I've noticed that sometimes when I'm reading a passage that I've highlighted, I skip over it instead of reading more carefully.  Does anyone have ideas for next time?  Different things to look for or to focus on, and so on.  Thanks for your thoughts!

I'm done being embarrassed!

As I meet new people, even people in the church, I feel like I need to be embarrassed about having three kids so close together. So I'll make a self-deprecating comment such as, "yeah, this last one was an accident" or "we have better birth control now." In Wymount, it wasn't so obvious how different I was, but elsewhere- when women (even in the church!) are not having as many children or are waiting longer before having kids- I start to feel really abnormal. Now, their reasons are their reasons, and I'm not making any judgements. It took us a year to get pregnant with Brighton, so to a small degree I understand that things don't always go as planned. But I decided I'm not going to be embarrassed any longer. I love being a young mom and I'm proud of my children. Yes, we were surprised to be pregnant with Logan, but I'm over it- and what would we do without him? I want to have a whole passel of kids, and I don't care if everyone thinks I'm weird. So there. :) So to all you Wymount moms and others that have lots of little children running around- congratulations!! You are amazing, tough and wonderful and definitely NOT weird in my book! :)

You have officially left Provo...

So, my car got keyed today. Funny story- I was in the McDonald's playplace (I know, don't judge me) and there was a woman there with her daughter. I say woman but I'm not sure if she was over 20. She got into a heated discussion with someone on her cell phone and started swearing up a storm- her most favorite expletive being the f-word. After she hung up on the person, I politely asked her not to talk that way in front of my kids. I promise- I was polite!! She didn't say anything, but soon after that walked out of the store and- KEYED MY CAR!! What do you do?! I guess I'm naive and sheltered after Wymount, but why would a person be using language like that in front of children!? I'm not so much upset about my car, but her reaction. What ever happened to being nice?

So of course I've been stewing over this since it happened. Should I not say anything for fear of a knife in my tire? Is this what living out in the real world is going to be like? I've actually experienced a situation like this before- where I've needed to ask someone to watch their language. It was some construction workers that were eating their lunch near where my kids were playing. But they were fine about it and apologized. This lady's response (as well as her phone conversation) showed a real lack of maturity. I'm sad for her and for her daughter. Hmm.

Still moving...

Let's see, to recap-

The kids and I spent a few fun days with my sis-in-law and friend Bethany in West Jordan. We made t-shirts, went to Wheeler farm and the Children's Museum up at Gateway. It was a really fun visit, I'm sure going to miss their family! We drove to Denver (8 hrs) to spend the night at a hotel with my family. The kids did really well on the car ride, thanks to months of planning! :) I have been getting books, movies and music so they would have some new things for the trip, as well as dollar store things that I wrapped up and chucked to the back seat when they needed something to do. My friend Rachel also gave me this great idea to put names of cities that we would be passing through on masking tape and put them on the ceiling. She made a little car for me, so the girls could see as we moved along our route. They loved it, I highly recommend! I didn't get any "are we there yet?" and they loved seeing that we were getting closer to the end.

After Denver, my family drove to Buena Vista (3 hrs) for some river rafting! My dad has been planning this for years, and I'm so glad it finally came together. We had three really nice cabins (I've probably been turned off to tent camping forever) and I got to spend two days on the river. I was worried that my kids would be bored, but they had so much fun! Gathering sticks, building "fires", throwing rocks in the creek for hours- Brighton made up a lot of songs about the trees and flowers. :) The town was small but super cute - we all had a blast!! Weather was beautiful, I just can't say enough. I was really sad James missed it, but hopefully we'll go back.

We drove to Kansas (8hrs) and spent about a week there. We went down and had some fun in Peck (45 min) at some property of my mom's friend's parents. If that makes sense. They have 180 acres, a pond, paddleboats, go-carts, a pony and cows. Lots of fun. My family has a pumpkin farm that they are working on. I was able to see my good friend Elicia, who is also my favorite hairdresser. :) I can't post pictures until we get our computer unpacked, but wait until you see the bright red chunks! Elicia calls it "spiderman red", and it certainly is. Super fun!! :)

I was planning on staying with my family for a while, but since James hasn't gotten the call to go back to his summer work, I drove to Iowa (8 hrs, turned into 10). I just love him too much! Iowa State University is about 3 hrs from here, so when our apartment is available we won't have too long of a drive. Which is good, because the kids are done! I'm still getting used to the humidity (ick) and my first night here we had a huge storm which woke the kids at 6am and took out the electricity. We were out for about 4 hrs I think. The Dairy Queen down the road was giving away ice cream because it was melting! There are still a lot of people without power. Crazy. I'm grateful our electricity is working, because I don't know what I would do. Drive back to Utah and call it quits, maybe. :)

I have to get back to my kids, but I'll post later about our apartment frustrations and other stuff.

On the move!

We've started moving, so my posts will be a little more sporadic. (Like they haven't already been!) When I get to Kansas I'll be able to upload pics and let you know the details of what has been happening. The best things in the past few days have been James getting home a day early to surprise me, and my brother, sister and parents surprising us with a night away at a bed and breakfast. I'll try to post soon!

Kidnapped!!

Okay, so I had the best time last night! I had just put my kids to bed and was doing some more packing (getting sooo boring) when some of my best friends from the ward came and kidnapped me!! I've never been kidnapped before and it was so exciting! :)Blindfolded and everything, I had no idea where they were taking me. We parked and they held my hands while we walked to our destination- causing quite a stir, they tell me. haha :) We went to Sportz Comedy, and I haven't laughed so hard in at least five weeks. Wonderful! And then we went out for frozen custard and just chatted until way past my bedtime. I'm so grateful for good friends that have been watching out for me and gauging the stress lines on my face. I really needed a break. Thanks girls!

More about James...

Things I appreciate more about my sweet hubby since he's been gone:

-he always takes out the trash
-he always mops the floor
-he lets me sleep in on the weekends
-he likes to cook and is a better baker than I am
-he gives me breakfast in bed every Sunday (no joke ladies!)
-he's the "fun" parent, and the kids love him to pieces
-he's as competent a parent as I am, I never have to worry about how he take's care of the kids
-he paints my toenails (I just had to do it myself! :( )
-he offers to help me out a lot, and if he sees a need- takes care of it

I know, he sounds like the wonder husband, but of course when he's here I still find time to complain about something. Why do we do that? One of the top things though, is that he is my best friend and will listen to me as I tell him everything about my day and happy and sad spots. Two and a half more weeks!

James update

Well, my rugged mountain man has been gone for three weeks now. *sniff* This is the view from his office. I'm just teasing, his job is out in the wild. He's been hiking around in this wilderness, braving all kinds of bugs and ticks and scratchy branches.

This is all the gear he wears to take readings of the mineral content of the ground. I think. :) He's enjoying himself, although he misses us. That's what he says, anyway. With all the hullabaloo goings on the last week I'm sure he had more peace where he is. He'll be back July 1st, and we'll start loading our moving van the next day. He'll leave and drive straight to Iowa, drop off our stuff, and then fly back to Washington/Alaska for another 3-4 weeks. I'm taking the leisurley drive to Colorado for a family rafting trip, then I'll be staying in Kansas to visit with family and friends, and then to Iowa to visit James' mom for a week or so, and THEN I'll start unpacking stuff .

Happy Birthday to Logan!!

Logan just had his first birthday on June 10th! We sang him Happy Birthday a few times, but that is really all we did to celebrate. We want to wait for the party until James gets back on July 1st.
We can't imagine being without our sweet little guy. He loves to chase his sisters around, attack them (if they lie on the ground he will crawl over and collapse on top :) eating real food, and snuggling mommy. He creeps along furniture, and can kind of say uh-oh. His doctor's appointment was yesterday and he has lost almost two pounds in the last 3 months! I don't know what to do with my kiddos- I promise I really do feed them! He also had a nasty ear infection, so I guess that's why he hasn't been sleeping well. He wasn't pulling on his ear or anything, and my kids have never really had a big problem with ear infections so it's not a conclusion I normally jump to. Poor guy. He's still a pretty happy camper though. Gotta love those dimples!