Great Grandma Charlotte

The very last picture I took of my Grandma

Early this morning my Grandma passed away. In the sadness of losing her I feel very much at peace. I know she is in a much better place and is being re-united with Grandpa and Aunt Candy.
Even though I lived far from her growing up I always felt her love. She always remembered my birthday and special events. I even received cards from her when I was in college. That is dedication. I'm pretty sure she passed onto me my love of chocolate. Always chocolate, in any form. From ice cream to shakes, to cookies to candy. She loved it even when it made her sick. She also loved her family and always enjoyed me bringing the kids over for a visit.
I love you Grandma and will miss you.

Shout Out for Help.. I need some Carseats

Sadly this morning my Grandma passed away. Don't worry, all is well. My sister is attempting to come out from VA with her twin boys. It would be easier for her if she didn't have to check car seats and just borrow some while she was here. So if any of you who read my blog and live close and have access to a car seat that no one is using, PLEASE contact me. Your help is much needed!!!

Always Greener on the other Side

Yesterday Jaren was complaining about being the oldest. He expressed his desire to be the youngest. That way no one would get into his things. I replied back with, wouldn't you get into trouble for getting into your older syblings things? No, he said. He just kept going and going and complaining and complaining all the while I was get more and more frustrated. Finally out of exaustion I exclaimed, " Would you just stop compaining to me!!! I think you have a pretty sweet life." I wanted to go on and tell him how pretty neat it was that he is the oldest. He would experience the first in just about everything. The first to get a tooth, and lose one and actually have the tooth fairy come and leave money. The tooth fairy gets tired as the days go on and the more teeth are lost. He was the first to go to school, the first to be baptized, the first to go to Junior High and High School. The first to drive and so on and so forth. Why couldn't he be happy with what he has been given. Then I thought, aren't we all like this? Isn't the grass always greener in some elses yard? I know I am. I would love to have a huge gourmet kitchen with a 6 burner gas stove and a double oven with a ginormous pre-island in the center. But I don't and I probably never will. I should be happy with what I have been given and currently have. Is my attitude contributing to my children? Am I being grateful enough that my children notice and are grateful for what they have? I know I am, but maybe I need to start showing it more outwardly, and stop complaining myself. After all, I have a pretty sweet life.

Another one of THOSE stories.

The other night we said prayer in Hannah's room. Jaren was monkeying around on Hannah's bed while everyone else was getting ready on the floor. Isabel glanced up at Jaren while he was being goofy and lifting his leg. All of the sudden I hear her Exclaim, "Oh Jaren!!!!! I see your penis!!!" Yes, Jaren wears boxers.

Cherry Hill Park

Silly Grace, trying to chew on the swing

Again, love those eyes.

Soooo, cute!!!

She's looking at Jaren.

Hannah picked Grace up and took her to explore a tree.
Grace is all about touch and feel.

Hannah monkeying around

Hannah in motion
Hair whipping in her face.

Another cool photo of that hair

She got pretty high.
And just about hit her head on the curbing when she finally jumped out.

Isabel, Beckham and Annika in the bottom of the slide

Annika upside down

Annika being a little monkey

Of all the pictures I took that day, this is my FAVORITE.

Alleah and Kelli.

Kelli and I decided to take the kids to the park on Wednesday. We decided to meet at the Cherry Hill Park in Orem. We use to frequent this park a lot when we lived in Orem. I love it because of the shade and hardly anyone else is there. Today was no exception. There were fewer people there due to the Pavilion being under construction. We ate our lunch and had fun playing on the playground. Isabel was quick to make friends with the only other kids there.

While we were in town I took the kids over to Donna's work. She is in a new building and had mentioned to me to bring the kids some time. This was the perfect time. Once again I received comments about having my hands full. I'm not so sure I like people telling me that in front of all my kids. What am I suppose to say to that comment? Once when I was heading into Walmart when Isabel and Annika were still little, minus 2, a woman told me that I had my hands full. Hannah caught on to this and asked me, " Why do people always say that to you?" And this was
when Hannah was about 5 yrs old. Now my hands are even more full with the addition of 2 more kids.

Donna had fun showing off her grandkids to her co-workers. I didn't stay long because I didn't want to overwhelm her. When the kids get comfortable they tend to get a little out of control.

Melinda

Kira with Grace

This is my favorite picture of the two of them.

Grace giving loves

On Tuesday my friend, Melinda, from High School came to visit. She lives up in Logan and is a kindergarten teacher, bless her generous heart. This year we both had babies, two months apart. Kira was born April 1. Funny thing is my Hannah and her oldest T.J. were born on the exact same day. It was so great to visit with her for a short minute. Melinda is such a great friend to keep in touch. She is always calling out of the blue to see how I'm doing. She was my very first friend in Junior High School. We were in orchestra together. We were friends all the way through my first year at Utah State University.

Thanks Melinda for always keeping in touch. You are one of my greatest friends!!!!

Godzilla

It has been a while since I've been out for any kind of Girls' night out. Baseball pretty much sucked the life out of our evenings. Despite one more baseball thing last night, Jaren had uniform check in, I snuck away. Thank you so much Brent.
Melissa, her sister Ashley and I went out for Sushi. I have been thinking and dreaming about sushi since I tried it for the first time in May. I really wanted to go back to the original place and get this amazing Hawaiian roll. We opted for an all you can eat place. It's not what it sounds like. I had visions of rolls just laid out and everyone in line waiting to grab their favorite. All the while wondering to yourself how many fingers have already touched or maybe even sneezed on the food. Wrong. We were still able to order the individual rolls and they made them fresh. They just kept bringing them out to us, as much as we ordered. It was great.
I love the whole experience. The soy sauce in the little saucer with wasabi mixed right in. Dipping your roll on both sides, piling the pickled ginger on top and shoving the whole thing in your mouth. It is by no means pretty or dainty. The end result is pure bliss.
My first time I was a little timid. I generally don't like things to spicy or hot. So I went light on the wasabi. The first place the wasabi wasn't that spicy to begin with, but it was good. Last night I dipped a rather large roll into the soy mixture and struggled to get the whole thing in my mouth. As I began to chew the roll fell apart and I experienced a burn the shot flames out my nostrils and eyeballs. My body began to trash back and forth and beat my fist on the counter and bench. When the spasm of pain finally subsided what I was left with was a running nose and watery eyes. Essentially tears and boogers. But I pushed through. Melissa and Ashley kept telling me it was part of the experience. Forget that. Next time I made sure there were no lumps left in my soy by the wasabi. I mixed that stuff in real good.
My new favorite roll is named Godzilla. Pretty much Heaven for your mouth.

Cooking Sorceress

My friend Leslie one day called me the Sorceress of the kitchen. Well this past weekend the Sorceress made Tamales. I thought I would share with you this wonderful delight.

First step is to soak the corn husk.

Overnight is the best.

The masa is a very tender dough made with butter and broth.

This is my pulled pork cooking away on the stove.
This is a very tedious method.
But the results are out of this world.

Corn and peppers prier to entering the oven which was set on broil.

A roasted orange bell pepper

fresh off the cob roasted corn

Place the still hot pepper in a ziploc bag.
Place in fridge for about 10 minutes

Remove peppers from bag and skins will simply slip away from flesh.

Dollop about a tablespoon of the masa onto the cornhusk

Evenly spread the masa onto the cornhusk

Sprinkle on your desired filling.
This time I did the roasted pepers and corn and pulled pork.

Fold in the two ends of the husk.
Hannah is my lovely hand model.

Then roll it up.

Here are the finished products .
The tamales are then steamed for an hour.
Unwrap and enjoy as Hannah put it, " a whole lot of heaven."

Backfiring Happens

Today in an attempt to make our Friday fun without Grandma being out of town I took the kids to the dollar theater to see Horton Hears a Who. Before departing on our adventure I took the kids to Macy's to pick out some candy to enjoy during the Movie. After all theater food is so ridiculously priced. All 5 kids successfully picked out their candy. Although Isabel picked a box that was a bit more expensive then the others and there were exclamations of unfairness. I shuttled them through the checkout line and we were off.
Thank Heavens for the dollar theater. I think we were 1 of just 3 families in the entire theater. Before entering the theater I tried to strategically tell my children to not mention their candy until we were seated. Of course Isabel was just so excited that she couldn't help but ask several times for her treat. Thankfully no candy was confiscated, it was deeply hidden inside the diaper bag. Memories of my sisters butter cups being taken from her ran through my mind. I couldn't help myself and ended up purchasing popcorn and two drinks. There in was my mistake. Before the movie even started fights broke out over the drink, and who was in charge of it. This fight was fought mostly between Isabel and Hannah. We got a bottomless tub of popcorn. Due to the fact that Grace started out in her carseat I had to sit on the outside to monitor her. That left the other 5 duking it out for the popcorn bin. Jaren, bless his 10 year old heart, waited patiently for his turn. When it was his turn to hold the popcorn Hannah went berserk complaining that he alone was going to eat the rest of the tub. Thankfully the movie finally started. Then the candy was passed out and before the first 15 minutes of the movie was over, the drinks were bone dry. I had to constantly tell Isabel to sit still, she enjoyed riding her seat up and down, and dealt with Beckham moving past his 3 sisters to get to my ice. Deep Breath. The kids, I think, enjoyed the movie.
I should have just stopped there but since we were in Provo and the way gas prices are I thought we could make the most of our trip. I suggested we go to BYU campus and walk around this small trail that I use to take Jaren and Hannah as babies. This is when the complaints really started to fly. At first they really enjoyed it, but then Isabel was miserable because all we were doing was walking, walking, walking. So we headed to the Museum of People and Cultures. That place is as big as my bedroom so there wasn't much to see. Beckham screamed he didn't want to leave so I suggested we go to the Bean Museum. Then it was Jaren's turn to complain. "I'm tired of going to that museum. They never change their exhibits and they don't have anything about snakes or sharks. " Blah blah blah blah, blech. So I drove everyone home. Beckham bit Annika and Annika complained that no one loved her and everyone loved Beckham better. Serenity now, Serenity now.
After some pizza filling their bellies and Harry Potter quiting their mouths, I am enjoying a little quiet time. It's not so quiet since my ears are still ringing. Why is it when you try to go and enjoy a day with your children it has to backfire with fighting and complaining and whining? I hope they remember the fun we actually had.

The Hardest Thing

The hardest thing I find as being a Mother is Following Through. It is easy to ask the kids to do this or do that. It's the Following Through to make sure they've done it that makes Motherhood, for me, so hard. So many times I've asked my children to do their chores and trusting in them that they've done it. Come to find later on that day when I finally walk into the said room to find it in the same state. Children are children. They are going to fight, be noisy and yes even lazy. At least for my children this is the case. So it should be no surprise to me that I have to follow through with what I ask them to do. But it's so much easier to throw my hands up, sigh, and say to myself, "whatever, I'm just to tired for this right now." I usually end up doing the task myself. I just don't want to hear the whining and complaining that comes with the following through. But in the whole scheme of things what am I really teaching my children? By not following through I am not teaching them to be responsible or respectful. So now comes the part where I try to buoy myself up and be my own cheerleader and tell myself " This can be done." If I want my children to be responsible, respectful and hard working adults then I need to start Following Through.

What is a Mother To Do?

Grace finding her way to the pile of "needs to be thrown aways"

Yes, I'm talking about you!!!

Love that profile

Smiling at how clever she is
Such a stinker!!!

Here she is finding her way to the couch

Whoa, that is one big peace of furniture

What is that?

I'm in trouble, and I'm talking about me, the Mom

She is still so adorable!!!

Seriously, what is a Mother suppose to do when their 5 month old baby starts to Army all over the house? I was busy in the kitchen doing something and I look over into the living room to find my sweet little thing checking out the couch. Hello, she was suppose to be on her blanket enjoying her toys. Well obviously those toys just weren't entertaining enough. The one phase that I was so looking forward to in Grace is never going to happen. I'm talking about the just barely sitting up and so happy to play with my toys and not move phase. Although she is entertained by moving all over the place and exploring EVERYTHING on the floor. I am now forced to keep an even CLEANER home. I now find myself bending over more often to pick up those random pieces of whatever so she wont put them in her still toothless mouth. For Pete's sake. She is too little to be doing this!!!

Remember?

I've been tagged!

As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Family is the Best

Beckham with his cousin Quanah.
When ever they see each other they have a great time playing!!!
Beckham also has issues with his pants. Can't ever seem to keep the darn things up

My brother, Deric with his son Quanah and Grace
Quanah loves baby Grace.

Hannah with Grandpa Rick.
Their birthdays are just 2 days apart.

Beckham in the Red Chair Grandma Donna (in the back), Cory, Kelli, Grandpa Woody (fussing with his camera),
Grace and Alleah playing over Cory's leg, Isabel and Annika

Grace and Alleah grabbing for the same toys.
It was so cute to watch the two of them.
Apparently I need to get some toys for Grace.

"Hey, that's my toy!"