BLISS

I'm pretty sure my kids were define BLISS as a carefree showerless weekend roaming a mountainside with their COUSINS. Who could ask for more?

ZOO

We managed to sneak a trip in to the zoo while the girls were off track. The weather was perfect and the animals were playful. I drug my zoo-hating friend and her three girls along and I think I just may have softened her heart about the zoo. See...all smiles.

First stop. MONKEYS. I thought Caymbree was going to be ecstatic. Instead, she was terrified. Apparently she didn't trust the rope/net cage and was convinced the monkeys were going to get her. We were not off to a good start. She finally started to ease up but she didn't quite trust the animals. Turning her back to them was a big gamble. (Just check out her body language in the picture below).
Sweet picture. Yep. That green thing to the side of Hallee's head is a snake wrapped up around a tree. The black dots are the eyes. CREEEEPPPPYYYY!

Favorite candid moment of the trip. I was snapping away at Hope watching this monkey when all of the sudden it leaped from the branch right at her and pressed it's face up to the glass. She screamed and then started laughing hysterically.

All the animals seemed to be in playful moods and this peacock had NO problem strutting her stuff for the girls.

Hope was little miss photographer. We gave her our old camera and she took 369 pictures at the zoo. I'm pretty sure each and every animal was accounted for and Troy was able to get a first hand look at her zoo experience when she made him sit down and look at all 369 pictures.

Caymbree had us all in stitches when she looked up and saw the giraffes, looked back at us and then said in a deep gruff voice, "Dat Jaff look at me and say what da heck!" Your probably right Caymbree. Your probably right.

Hope's preschool GRADUATION!

Lil Miss Hopers graduated from preschool this past month and we

couldn't be PROUDER! She truly is a "shining star" and we are so grateful for the countless hours and preparation Mrs. Johnson puts into the school. I just stumbled across an advertisement for the preschool when we first moved to Riverton and we were SO impressed we immediately put Hope on the list. Troy had work meetings that day and wasn't able to attend. We video taped the entire production so he wouldn't have to miss out.
Hope and her friend Elle

So ready for Kindergarten!

Jealous

Learned a lot from my children and hubby today. Sometimes I wish I could be just like them. Take for instance...

CAYMBREE -
Caymbree just lays it all out there. When life isn't going just how she thinks it should - she let's you know. Like a massive meltdown in Walmart. Or another one in the car. And yet another one at home. And then they pass just as quick as they came. I'm a little jealous. I can think of a time or two that I would like nothing more than to throw myself down on the floor, roll around in a pool of tears and scream as loud as I can. And then I'd be over it.

HOPE -
Amidst a sea of anxiety ridden grocery shopping women, Hope skipped all the way through Walmart. Cast and all. Not a care in the world. Completely oblivious to all the smiling onlookers. And I was jealous. So carefree and full of life. So quick to make people smile.

HALLEE -
Hallee came home from school today and sometime between her snack and homework decided to unleash her orneriness on me. I let her have it and reminded her who was boss. If roles were reversed I would have held a grudge. A big one. Instead she showed up to dinner with a card in hand. It read " I know I was being bad and I'm rilly sorry and I fill gelty." And I felt jealous. Jealous of her sweet forgiving little soul that I had yelled at earlier.

TROY
Right now as we speak Troy is on the floor with all three of his girls piled on top. It's that time again...their nightly "wrestle". Caymbree is squealing in delight. Hope can't stop giggling. And Hallee's "fiercely" fighting back in between gut wrenching laughs and screams. I'm secretly jealous. I'm jealous of that daddy-daughter bond. I'm jealous of Troy's ability to play.

Thanks fam. For just being you.

Girly Girl

Miss Caymbree is SUCH a girly-girl. She loves pink, high heel shoes, dress-ups, curly hair, purses lip gloss and shoes. What more can a girl want?


Recently she has started asking me to curl her hair "like Hallee's". Kinda tricky when you are the proud owner of a serious mullet! However, she LOVES it. She kept asking me to take her picture so she could look at from all angles. Seriously. Is she too cute or what!
Got the curls now add the purse. The girl does not go ANYWHERE without it. This includes when she goes to bed! It is full of lip gloss (five of them last time I checked) and occasionally a few treats. (By the way - if you are missing your lip gloss I'm pretty sure I know where to check). She is growing up SOOOO fast and we are all madly in love with her. She cracks us up by the minute.

She was invited to her first birthday party last week and she was beyond excited. It was so surreal for me to drop her off all by herself. Where did the time go?

She came home and immediately started telling me her list of friends that she wanted to invite to her birthday party. I wasn't really planning on doing a friend party for her this year but look at that face. Seriously. Who could resist? Guess we better start planning....

YOWZER!

Sunday afternoon we took a little stroll around the neighborhood. The kids wanted to make a quick stop here...Hope decided to test out her climbing skills by climbing up the backside of the big plastic fish, hanging her legs over the big green pipe and... Well, the picture does the talking. It didn't end well. We took her home and spent the night wondering if her wrist was broken or if it was just a bad sprain. By the next morning we were convinced it was broken and took her in to have the results confirmed. Hope was a serious trooper and never shed a tear.

We had to wait for the swelling to go down so we just had the cast put on this morning. Check out that sucker!!! Yes, it is a broken wrist but apparently she broke both bones and to prevent any movement from twisting they had to go up over her elbow for two weeks. After that we will go back in and get a new smaller cast put on for two more weeks.

All I can say is bless the soul who invented waterproof casts! The thing hasn't slowed her down a bit and she spent the rest of the day at the park (yep the same one) and jumping on the trampoline.

And on an ironic note, one of her best friends is also sporting a hot pink cast. Grace broke her arm a few weeks ago. Didn't you know a hot pink cast is hottest thing these days?

Happy Children's Day!!

Conversation with Hope shortly after Mother's Day

Hope: "So mom, what day's is Children's Day?"

Me: " Hope, everyday is children's day."

Hope: "No mom. I mean the REAL children's day. Like the day when everybody gives you cards and tells you how much they love you."

Apparently seeing how spoiled and loved I was on Mother's day sparked a desire to have a day of her own. Interestingly enough Troy and I had planned to surprise the girls with a night at Chuck-E-cheese the next day so whalaa---Children's Day it is.

My kids LOVE this place. Troy and I LOVE watching their sheer joy as they run from game to game. Happy Children's day kiddos!

And one more thought...perhaps Hope is on to something. A special day designated for each child that is not about the gifts and balloons but more about honoring that child. I think we might just have to try it. We could make them "Queen for the day" with cards, meals of choice, lunch with mom/dad at school, ....hmmmm think of the possibilities. I'm thinking their half b-day's would be an easy way to designate the day. I think I have some planning to do.

Happy Mother's Day!

"MY MOM"

by Hope

age 5

My mom is very pretty.

She has white eyes and brown hair.

She is 14 years old.

Her favorite color is pink.

The food she likes best is crepes.

Her favorite TV show is Funniest Home Videos.

My mom's favorite thing to do is spend time with her kids.

She likes to drink diet coke the best.

My mom gets really mad when I do something bad.

She cooks the very best things with square cereal that you put dough on and stir with chocolate and eat. (That would be muddy-buddies.)

My mom is as pretty as a princess.

I like it when my mom plays outside with us on the hammock.

My mom is smart! She knows how to sew bows.

I like to make my mom smile by making her laugh.

Wishes

Found this note hanging on the refrigerator. Not sure what it meant exactly. Found out Hope and Hallee were just getting a head start on their Christmas list.

Puppy 1 and puppy 2

Apparently, they BOTH want a puppy. (Sorry, girls. Keep dreaming).

Live in St. George

Hope obviously enjoyed our recent vacation there a little too much

Lots of DSi games

Hallee's request

Dsi with Mario Bro's

Yep. Now Hope think she needs one too. Santa better start saving now.

Well girls, as long as we are dreaming... I would like a "date fund". An account with an abundance of money and a babysitter at the ready so that Troy and I could go on a weekly date. Um, an

i-phone would be great. Couches and a tv for the basement, flowers for the yard, a little landscaping and a tropical vacation. I know, I know. But, girls can dream can't they?

So what's on your "dream" list today?

GUILT

I'm not going to lie. Women's Conference evoked a little guilt. Ok. A lot of guilt. I had a particularly crappy week leading up to the event and everything that I did wrong came out in blaring force during the conference. Lovely. However, I have gotten over the guilt and changed my attitude. It's a new week and a fresh start. Now I can look back and my week and laugh. So I'm sharing the love and documenting it for my posterity.

Ready? Here goes....

Early in the week I spent the morning running errands. I didn't plan on being gone very long but morning quickly turned into afternoon. My kids were tired and starving and we were about 20 minutes from home. Hope started complaining that she wanted food and then Caymbree threw in the clincher - " POTTY". Ok. I give. We will stop and grab something. We've got low budget fast food on one side and a nice sandwich shop on the next. I was selfish. I went for the salad and sandwich shop. That was the first mistake. After running in and going potty we came out to find a "humongous" (as Caymbree would say) line . Hmm... do we leave and go somewhere else or wait it out? We'll wait. Second mistake. As we walked towards the line a single older woman entered from the opposite side both of us heading towards the end of the line. She makes eye contact with me and then rushes to step in front of me to make sure she is first. Ok lady. Whatever.

Now the kids are tired and bored and testing my patience. "THE" lady made sure I knew of her annoyance with her frequent glares. I did my best to ignore her. When it was finally our turn we grabbed our tray and started sliding it down the line (Think cafeteria style with a bar in front for you to set your tray on). Caymbree is freaking out because she can't see the food behind the counter. So I made a mother blunder. It was dumb and I probably wouldn't do it again but I was seriously done. I lifted her up and let her stand on the counter for a second so she could see the food. Instantly "the" woman attacked. "That's kind of disgusting isn't it?" Me: In shock, "What? I asked puzzled. "Putting her feet where our food goes?" Me: TICKED - "Good thing there is a tray AND a plate in between! (In my best ticked off tone.)

I spent the rest of the line imagining all the things I should and wished I would have said.

And that's where it all started.

I think I spent most of the next day still ticked off about it and recalling two recent stories by two different friends where some wonderful woman decides to give her "valuable" input. It kept me fuming all day.

I'm not quite sure why but the next few days I was on edge. I was quick to snap and patience was not one of my best qualities. The food issue with my children was building. I felt myself starting to get angry before we even sat down for dinner just anticipating the battle that was awaiting. One dinner was prefaced with a intense threat from mom, "The first one to say anything negative about this meal will be excused from the table and will spend the rest of the evening in their room." Nice hu? I know. I told you it was ugly.

On Thursday Troy arrived home from work to tell me that he had just run over my beautiful temple picture that I had just sanded and stained and left out to dry in the garage. Frustration and anger were quickly replaced with relief when the picture was left intact and undamaged and only a tire tread to paint over. I was still annoyed. Then we sit down to eat. I'll admit it wasn't the best dinner but I was trying to use up things in the pantry and a boxed chicken and dumpling dinner fit the bill. Hallee instantly starts pulling faces. I give her the death glare. She puts it in her mouth, gags and then loses her lunch all over the table. I look at Troy. I give him the death glare and he bursts out laughing. (Then he quickly cleaned it up - bless his soul). He thinks it is hilarious and recalls the meals that made him gag as a child. I fail to see the humor.

Luckily for my family the next day was Women's Conference and I was off with my mom and sister for two days of enlightenment and a kid-free zone. I'm sure they were just as grateful as I was.

It didn't take long into the conference before the guilt started to hit and I realized what a creep I had been that week. The first class was on "Sacrifice and Selflessness in Marriage" and while we didn't really get a lot of practical application just the title itself was enough to remind me what a lame wife I had been that week.

Some of my favorite quotes from the class:

* "Marriage was intended to mean the complete merger of man and woman --- their hearts, hopes, lives, love, family, future, everything.

*"Small acts of service in a marriage can produce a lifetime of happiness."

The next class was titled "A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance." Oh boy. Failed miserably on that one too. Some favorite quotes form that class:

*"Make a list of three pople that you enjoy to be around. Consider why. Would you be on their list?"

*"A mother's reaction to a situation usually sets the tone for the entire family."

*"We can alter our lives by altering our attitude."

Hmmmm. Looks like I owe Hallee an apology.

And the last class was was titled "Pray Always". We can find relief and comfort in prayer. Perhaps I needed a little more of that to combat my week. My favorite quotes:

* "It is quite spectacular that the one who created this earth and the millions of species and inhabitants thereof allows us to call him Father and communicate with him any time we wish."

* Four ways we should be praying; With our spouse, as a family, individually, and actively participating in group prayers (in church and other settings). Interesting points were brought up in the group prayer. "Do I exercise my faith in behalf of others by genuinely participating in these prayers? Or do I let me mind wander and simply make sure I say "amen" upon the conclusion?"

By this point I am starting to feel pretty crappy and have pinned a badge to my chest saying "Worst mother and wife of the Year award". I'm realizing that I have a LOT of work to do. And then we went to the closing session led by Dallin H. Oaks and his wife. I'm pretty sure Elder Oaks was talking right to me as he spoke of the worldwide epidemic of individualism and selfishness. It was apparent that I had been stricken with the epidemic when all my thoughts were about ME. Some of his wisdom:

"Do not be so pre-occupied with yourself!!! Loose your feelings of inadequacies by thinking about others. Not yourself!"

"Discouragement becomes a major diversion in our service to others. It focuses on a preoccupation of self."

So the way I saw it was that I had two choices. I could spend the next week feeling bad and guilty about the previous weeks behavior or I could apologize, move forward and focus on serving my husband and children. I'm happy to report I'm working on the latter.

It was a wonderful opportunity and I am so grateful for the opportunity to go. Thanks mom and Adree. Next year? Same time, same place.

Out of the mouth of babes...

Caymbree is a little stinker when it comes to eating dinner. It seems like it is a battle every single night. I have finally gotten to the point where when she refuses to touch anything on her plate I put her in time-out until she is ready to come out and have at least have ONE bite. And so the story goes...

We sit down to the table to eat. Caymbree takes one look at her plate. Lays her head down on the table and says, "I just go to time-out." And the Oscar goes to...

Hope knocked me out of my socks with her latest comeback yesterday. My ego is still recovering.

I notice the red greasy smudges on the sleeves of Hope's white shirt ONCE again. It's the same old story. Hope wears lipgloss. Somehow that lipgloss always ends up on the sleeves of her white shirts. Mom lectures. Mom threatens. And so the story goes...

(After noticing me looking at the red smudges) Hope says, "Wow. How did that get there? Mom, I really don't know how that happened.

Me: (Very irritated and apparently a little harsh) "Hope, you are ruining your shirts! That looks SO ugly. Do you like to wear ugly things?"

Hope: (Feelings hurt and looking for revenge) "Well, all those red spots on your face (yes, those would be zits), are just as ugly!"

Touche Hope, touche. Now I think I might just cry.

Here comes the sun...

When we left it looked like this - a day after we got home it looked like this... But for a few short days we got a glimpse of this...

SUN! BEAUTIFUL, GLORIOUS SUN!!

I wish I could say it was the kind of sun that warms you to the core and provides the picture perfect moment for a sun kissed tan but it wasn't. It was cool. But it was sun. And I wasn't complaining.

My friend Tara and I packed up all six of our girls and began the four and half hour journey to sunny St. George. Our hubbies joined us the next night. They got four and half hours of peaceful, quiet chit chat. We got four 1/2 hours of hmmmm......what exactly shall we call it? Not sure I can find the right word to do it justice. :)

We did a little shopping, a lot of swimming, a few Easter activities, and plenty of hiking. Snow Canyon turned out to be the highlight of the trip and we went two days in a row. Caymbree was so funny to watch and declared her independence by rarely allowing us to carry or help her during our hiking trips. It was amazing and humorous at the same time.

Easter in St. George

Easter activities started with mad dash search through the house to find where the bunny had hid their baskets. After searching five bedrooms, four bathrooms, and two living rooms they finally found them in the cupboards of the laundry room. Sneaky bunny! They were thrilled with their baskets full of girly trinkets. You know the can't-live-without staples of girl-hood. Things like gum, jewelry, lip gloss, and clothes. Still wondering why the Easter bunny skipped right over me this year.

Later we headed outside to find a yard full of eggs. Let the games begin!

It was such a fun Easter {slash} Spring Break {slash} if-I-don't-see-the-sun-soon-I'm-gonna-scream vacation!