"Come on kiddos, we're going hiking." "HIKING? AGAIN?" whined Isaac, "We always go hiking, and you always say it's going to be easy, and it never is!" We promised this would be an easy one. Got to the canyon, and decided to try a new trail -- which turned out to go STRAIGHT UP HILL, and we only made it a little over a half mile (with hundreds of feet of elevation change in that short half mile), and the kids whined the whole way, "Turn around! Turn around!" and by the time we got back to the bottom, Isaac was muttering under his breath, "Told you it's never an easy hike!"
:-) But, they played in the mud and the stream, so all was forgiven and they've already forgotten how much they hated it :-)
June 28th
June 27th
At the Rec Center tonight, Annie and Ellie started talking with a Spanish-speaking family. The Dad called over the Mom to come hear Annie talk, and they both seemed amazed at the girls' Spanish. I heard them ask Annie where she learned Spanish, and she explained the Dual Immersion program at her school (all in Spanish), and the Mom turned to the Dad and with wide eyes, "En serio?? Wow!" The girls came back just beaming after their several minute conversation, and as the family was leaving, the Dad came up and asked if they were my daughters. I answered proudly that they were, and he just gushed, "Wow, they sound amazing! Just amazing!" And the Mom added, "Seriously, their accents, especially the older one, are just perfect -- they sound native! That is just amazing."
The girls floated home on cloud nine
:-) And proud Mom let them have ice cream before dinner. It was a good night all around :-)June 25th
I love how if you get up high enough in the Uintah's, they no longer look all dry and sagey and brown, but way more lush and green (and it feels way more cool!) :-) We had a great hike earlier today with Star, Grandma Karine, and Grandpa Robert.
June 23rd
Apparently our tick check last night after our hike wasn't thorough enough, and tonight we found a thriving tick on Isaac's neck, tucked into his hairline. The kids have since named the tick Stuart. Greg successfully removed the tick, according to every reliable instruction we found online, and we've all been itching our scalps ever since. We've triple checked all the other kids, and we seem to be far more tick-free as a family than we were an hour ago. The best part came right before bed though, when Isaac was saying prayer and added in, in the sweetest most sincere voice, 'Please bless that I don't get an infection from Stuart's bite." The girls started giggling so hard at the named-tick making it into prayer that I'm surprised they made it all the way through prayer before losing it completely.
Seriously though, my scalp itches SO bad right now. And my arms. And legs. And now my earlobe.
June 22nd -
Enjoying the evening weather up Yellow Fork canyon with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Star -- and seriously, Yellow Fork has a particularly special kinda dirt -- it takes copious amounts of soap and scrubbing to get it off your skin, and since they practically rolled in the mud in the creek, it was especially difficult tonight, and I don't know if their shoes will ever come clean
June 18th
June 16th
June 14th
"My pants are always wrinkly and my Mom doesn't do anything about that." Says Ellie while watching my Mom in awe as she irons her pants and t-shirt for tomorrow. Anytime my kids see someone ironing, they act as if seeing a rare and exotic animal for the first time
:-)
June 13th
June 12th
I'm grateful that each Sunday I have the chance to be reminded, once again, that my two youngest children lack any form of a 'whisper voice'.
For the love -- how many times can two children be told to whisper, have whispering modeled for them, be reminded to whisper, have hands placed over their tiny normal-volumed-mouths, and still not seem to have ANY concept what their father and I are referring to when we ask them to whisper during Sacrament Meeting. :-)
June 7th
June 6th
First day of Summer:
Dentist appointments, and a child coming up to me and sheepishly saying, "Mom, I need your help. I may have accidentally dropped a croquet ball in the toilet."
(And actually this was one of the girls, and fortunately, she didn't flush
:-) It was kinda funny, 'cause she came up, a little teary-eyed, "Mom, something happened when I was going to the bathroom," which had me panicked, since I am a Mom with a Pediatric G.I. on speed dial on my phone and issues in the bathroom are taken really seriously, then she added, "I need your help, I may have accidentally dropped a croquet ball in the toilet," and for a split second she sat there, wide eyed and near tears, and I just BUSTED up laughing. Then she started laughing. Then I foolishly started with sticking my hand in the toilet, then realizing I couldn't dislodge the ball from the hole at the bottom, and that was when we sacrificed the salad tongs, and I felt foolish for ever putting my whole hand in the toilet.)June 5th
June 4th
One last outing for the day after a big family party and Ellie's baptism earlier in the day -- a nearly five mile hike, just to make sure the kids sleep REALLY well tonight
:-)June 3rd
Aww, Ellie's teacher knows her so well.
😊.
Also, last day of school with two little girls is INTENSE -- both girls are in tears, Ellie in finding out her teacher is moving and Annie getting a lower grade in one subject because of an assignment I told her a dozen times wasn't in the system, but she kept telling me "it's fine, I turned it in," and now she found out that maybe Mom was right all along and it was her responsibility to follow up on, and Mom being right IS THE WORST. :-) And her kick ball team didn't win (they tied for the championship but didn't win). So many emotions -- if this is the end of 2nd and 4th grade, I'm going into hiding the last day of 7th and 9th. I so wasn't expecting summer to kick off with multiple weepy children. 
😉
June 2nd
June 1st
Owen during dinner, while we were talking about Ellie's upcoming baptism, "Yeah, Ellie, you are supposed to follow in Jesus' footsteps. Then you know which way He went. Like, if the footprints are over that way," as he dramatically point one direction, "He's probably over that way. If the footprints go THAT way," dramatically pointing the other direction, "He's probably over there." Then He shrugs, "you follow His footsteps, and you'll find where He went," then pauses, "unless He's really good at hiding."
Um, OK. So we're probably good for Family Home Evening this week then, right?
😀
May 31st
Owen at dinner tonight, "Mom, you know what the worst part of my day was? When you just talked and talked to Ms. Jenny and Ms. Macole," referring to his preschool teachers Ms. Jenny and Nicole, "and we were stuck there forever!" Me, "I'm sorry Bug, but I was just talking to my friends, and it doesn't hurt to be patient sometimes . . ." Owen interrupting suddenly, "Whoa, whoa, whoa . . . No Mom, those are my people, not yours."
At Kindergarten Graduation . . .
May 30th
Probably not many better places to spend Memorial Day and my birthday then up sharing some of my favorite childhood memories with my kids! We made it up to Flat Rock again, and the old Upton Cemetery, and enjoyed retracing my favorite childhood hikes, attempting to dam up a creek, and spending time together! It ended on a less high note, with poor Isaac falling from a bit of a ledge and rolling down part of the mountain side -- fortunately, he is doing well -- we had him checked out by a nurse, and other than a golf ball sized goose egg on his head, and some scrapes and bruises on his hands, shoulder, and chest, he seems to be bouncing back really well. We are supposed to wake him up EVERY. TWO. HOURS. tonight though, which should be fun Partly because I haven't had to wake up every two hours since Owen was a baby, and partly because Isaac is the DEEPEST SLEEPER ON EARTH and becomes agitated and combative upon being woken during the night. He never fully wakes up or becomes coherent -- and the advice we got was to wake him up, check his pupils, and make sure he knows who we are, then letting him go back to sleep. He wouldn't know who we were in the middle of the night on a good night Wish us luck
May 28th
Embarrassing Memorial Day moment: all of us sitting serenely alongside my Grandpa and April's graves, when Owen starts dancing around and singing LOUDLY, "skunk in the grave yard, p.u.! Somebody ate it, that's you!":-)
May 19th
Spanish Immersion Performance
May 10th
May 9th
Seeing a small stream of light, I just marched my indignant-Mom-self into the girls room and sternly said, "Annie, it is 10 o'clock at night and you are supposed to be asleep." Only to find Annie fast asleep, and my Ellie-belly with a head lamp on, 100 pages into her book.:-)
Reading didn't come as easy or quick or painless with this one, like it did with her big sister, and seeing her develop such an appetite for books and stories has been a huge highlight of this year for me.
I snapped this picture, smiled and said, "Finish the page and go to sleep." "I just need three more to finish the chapter." "OK, three more. Then sleep."
May 8th
Ellie came up and whispered in my ear, "Mom, I know some big words about mothering! You NURTURE me when I REGURGITATE," then looked up at me, beaming.
May 7th
I was just helping the girls clean their room. Ellie's bed contained books, lights, stuffed animals, Easter candy, notebooks, knitting gear, coloring books, colored pencils, glues sticks, and THREE water balloons. Filled with water water balloons. For the love, child!
May 6th
May 3rd
Ellie excitedly came home from her field trip to the farm today, and showed me her little grains of wheat in cotton and water, waiting to sprout. She exclaimed, "It was so cool Mom, they gave everyone a couple grains of this stuff to chew because if you chew it long enough, it becomes like gum!" My eyes grew large, but before I could ask, she cracked up and said, "You should've seen your face, Mom!" She laughed for a few seconds, then explained that the farmer had asked first if anyone was gluten intolerant, and so she was just given a piece of gum instead of wheat. (Which she was pretty pleased with -- it's possibly the first time in history the gluten free kid got the BETTER treat:-) ) But she got QUITE the kick out of the glimmer of panic in my eyes!
:-) And her kick ball team didn't win (they tied for the championship but didn't win). So many emotions -- if this is the end of 2nd and 4th grade, I'm going into hiding the last day of 7th and 9th. I so wasn't expecting summer to kick off with multiple weepy children. 😉June 2nd
June 1st
Owen during dinner, while we were talking about Ellie's upcoming baptism, "Yeah, Ellie, you are supposed to follow in Jesus' footsteps. Then you know which way He went. Like, if the footprints are over that way," as he dramatically point one direction, "He's probably over that way. If the footprints go THAT way," dramatically pointing the other direction, "He's probably over there." Then He shrugs, "you follow His footsteps, and you'll find where He went," then pauses, "unless He's really good at hiding."
Um, OK. So we're probably good for Family Home Evening this week then, right?
😀May 31st
Owen at dinner tonight, "Mom, you know what the worst part of my day was? When you just talked and talked to Ms. Jenny and Ms. Macole," referring to his preschool teachers Ms. Jenny and Nicole, "and we were stuck there forever!" Me, "I'm sorry Bug, but I was just talking to my friends, and it doesn't hurt to be patient sometimes . . ." Owen interrupting suddenly, "Whoa, whoa, whoa . . . No Mom, those are my people, not yours."
At Kindergarten Graduation . . .
May 30th
Probably not many better places to spend Memorial Day and my birthday then up sharing some of my favorite childhood memories with my kids! We made it up to Flat Rock again, and the old Upton Cemetery, and enjoyed retracing my favorite childhood hikes, attempting to dam up a creek, and spending time together! It ended on a less high note, with poor Isaac falling from a bit of a ledge and rolling down part of the mountain side -- fortunately, he is doing well -- we had him checked out by a nurse, and other than a golf ball sized goose egg on his head, and some scrapes and bruises on his hands, shoulder, and chest, he seems to be bouncing back really well. We are supposed to wake him up EVERY. TWO. HOURS. tonight though, which should be fun
Partly because I haven't had to wake up every two hours since Owen was a baby, and partly because Isaac is the DEEPEST SLEEPER ON EARTH and becomes agitated and combative upon being woken during the night. He never fully wakes up or becomes coherent -- and the advice we got was to wake him up, check his pupils, and make sure he knows who we are, then letting him go back to sleep. He wouldn't know who we were in the middle of the night on a good night Wish us luck May 28th
Embarrassing Memorial Day moment: all of us sitting serenely alongside my Grandpa and April's graves, when Owen starts dancing around and singing LOUDLY, "skunk in the grave yard, p.u.! Somebody ate it, that's you!"
:-)
May 19th
Spanish Immersion Performance
May 10th
May 9th
Seeing a small stream of light, I just marched my indignant-Mom-self into the girls room and sternly said, "Annie, it is 10 o'clock at night and you are supposed to be asleep." Only to find Annie fast asleep, and my Ellie-belly with a head lamp on, 100 pages into her book.
:-)Reading didn't come as easy or quick or painless with this one, like it did with her big sister, and seeing her develop such an appetite for books and stories has been a huge highlight of this year for me.
I snapped this picture, smiled and said, "Finish the page and go to sleep." "I just need three more to finish the chapter." "OK, three more. Then sleep."
May 8th
Ellie came up and whispered in my ear, "Mom, I know some big words about mothering! You NURTURE me when I REGURGITATE," then looked up at me, beaming.
May 7th
I was just helping the girls clean their room. Ellie's bed contained books, lights, stuffed animals, Easter candy, notebooks, knitting gear, coloring books, colored pencils, glues sticks, and THREE water balloons. Filled with water water balloons. For the love, child!
May 6th
May 3rd
Ellie excitedly came home from her field trip to the farm today, and showed me her little grains of wheat in cotton and water, waiting to sprout. She exclaimed, "It was so cool Mom, they gave everyone a couple grains of this stuff to chew because if you chew it long enough, it becomes like gum!" My eyes grew large, but before I could ask, she cracked up and said, "You should've seen your face, Mom!" She laughed for a few seconds, then explained that the farmer had asked first if anyone was gluten intolerant, and so she was just given a piece of gum instead of wheat. (Which she was pretty pleased with -- it's possibly the first time in history the gluten free kid got the BETTER treat
:-) ) But she got QUITE the kick out of the glimmer of panic in my eyes!
