David turns "50"

I can't believe that my husband has hit the half century mark. When we were first married the thought of turning "40" seemed like so long away and that forty year olds were "old" people. Now that we have passed that mark and beginning the next decade of our lives "50" is not old at all and in fact we feel the best ever. David was not as excited to hit this event as I was because the older girls and I were planning the best surprise party ever! His birthday was May 11th and that happened on a family night. So we had the kids over for dinner and celebrated Mother's Day and his birthday together. The kids brought pizza and made a great salad. David was acting kind of funny but oh well. (He secretly thought that this was the night we were going to surprise him, but we had him fooled:) We had cake and the kids got him lovely cards. The following Saturday we had planned a party at a bowling alley and had invited all his family to it. He had not a clue. I was going to California the following week for my mom's birthday so I told him that before Noah's game (Noah had secretly gone with Chloe and the some of the kids to the bowling place instead of his game.) we had to go to a craft store that had what I wanted to get for my mom for her birthday. Without a fuss he agreed to do this. But as he saw that we were driving and driving he was beginning to get upset. "Can't you find what you want in town?" he said as he was getting more frustrated with the distance he was having to drive. "What my mom isn't good enough to go the extra mile for?", I said trying not to laugh the whole time. When we drove up and the address was a bowling alley and not the craft store he was really mad. But I said "let's just go ask and see if they know where it is". So he parked (unfortunately he parked right next to Ashleigh's car and saw Seth's truck) and we went in. Even though he thought it was funny that the older kids might be here he never clued in to the surprise until he saw his parents. He just looked at me and said "you are lucky, I was so mad! But now I am so embarrassed that I don't know what to say!" Yeah for us to pull off the surprise!!!! We had a great time. Had pizza there, played at the arcade and bowled. Sorry to say though Autumn beat David the first round - She thought it was funny that he was having a hard time and she was just putting the ball between her legs and pushing it. She never clued in to the fact that she had bumpers up the whole time!

Happy birthday David and we all love you and are so happy to get to share this "big one" with you!

May field trip

Yesterday I went on a field trip with Hayden and her second grade class. I have to admit that I have gotten out of these little excursions for the last few years. I went on my share of field trips the first fifteen or so years that I have had kids in school. I was taking a little break - you might say I was giving other parents the opportunity to spend this quality time with their child. Well, Hayden was not having it anymore. Autumn is way to old to use as an excuse anymore so I gave in and said I would go. That was almost two months ago. She has been planning and anticipating this day ever since I passed the "background" check. (Can I say I had never had to that before - I am glad they do it - I think - but still ---) As soon as I got on the bus I thought to myself, "What was I thinking... these kids are so wound up!" Once we got there it was OK. I had three (including Hayden) cute little girls to be in charge of. They were very excited to say the least and the first half hour was jumping from one thing to another. After the sub tour they calmed down a bit and took more time at things. As lunch time got closer and they got hungrier they stayed pretty close so they would not miss out on that. Finally it was time to leave and come home and my thought was that the whole bus load of kids would be settled down and quieter. Not so, may I say that the bus ride home was just as adventuresome as the ride there. Oh well, it is an experience that I will treasure as time very well spent with miss Hayden. She later told me it was the best day ever until she got in trouble for not cleaning her room. Oh well, I guess all best days have to come to a close even if it means having to clean your room and get ready for the next best day to come. As one last thought: I kind of think I missed these little trips with the kids - but not sure whether I miss them enough to get on a bus full of second graders again:)

Happy Monday

This weekend we got our garden in. We built two boxes and Saturday David got the rest of the dirt to fill them. In between the rain and running kids we got the seeds planted. It was a muddy mess but everyone had lots of fun. Miss Autumn made little signs so we would know what everything was. David was not listening to her and put up the seed packets on stakes and she was crushed. So when I told him about it he let her put it in special places in the garden so that she could care for those things. She was happy again and it was if the sun had come out the look on her face! She has been quite the character lately and said some of the funniest things. Of course, I forgot to take pictures of all the gardening fun but will post ones as things start to grow.

I have been stalking all of the crafting blogs I can find and have found some pretty cute things to start making. As soon as some of those get going I will post pictures as well. Also, I have some ideas for some cute dresses for the little girls but can't find the pattern I want. So when I go to California I am hoping my mom will help me out. She is amazing when it comes to sewing and does a lot of things without bought patterns. It is funny to have these ideas swirling around in my head. It will be fun to see if I can get from my head to fabric to little girl. I think I can make it happen:)

Watching baby Jonathan again today and he does not like it when I am not paying attention to him. He is so cute and very fun to watch at this age. I am glad they live close so I can watch him. We (Autumn and I ) fed him and gave him a bath and after a little play I got him to sleep for about an hour now so far. Toshia says he is better about taking naps now and that makes it easier for me as well. I did not go to the gym this morning because it took a little longer than I thought to get him going after I got home from my run. At least I got the run in (4.5 miles today) and feel great (I always feel better after I am done and am glad I did it, but sometimes when I start I think "What am I doing this for?")

We have two games tonight the three little girls play. Hopefully the rain will hold off. I need pictures of all the softball and baseball stuff as well. I need to do better about bringing the camera with me. Oh well, at least I don't forget anyone and they all end up where they are supposed to be:)

Happy Monday everyone. I hope you all get what you need to do done today:)

Pay it Forward

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have restrictions and limitations:

I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

What I create will be just for you.
It will be done this year. You may have to be patient.

You will have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or maybe even some creation I haven't invented yet. I may draw or paint something.

I may bake you something and mail it to you. I may even sew something for you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who comment on your blog.

I am excited to create something just for you! Hurry quick...comment! Then go pay it forward.

Catching up

Lots going on around here. I have not been blogging or even looking at blogs all week. How can that be - I miss this. So catching up briefly -

Chloe is working and having fun her junior year. She says this is the last year to just be a kid and get not have to worry about being a "grown-up". She has great friends and they all seem to keep each other busy. School wise she is doing good. Her grades were good except how do you get a C in PE? Later she found out she had missed some classes because of dentist appointments and being ill and she says you have to run so many laps to do make up work. She thinks a C is just fine and running is not:) Everyone needs a sweet teenager like Chloe!

Chad is doing track and doing very well. He runs varsity 110 and 300 hurdles. He keeps improving his time and comes in second and third most races. He also runs a couple of relays sometimes and does well on those. He is going to run the half marathon I am doing with me and that will be fun. Also, got straight A's (including three A+'s).

Noah is playing baseball and loving it! He gets to play second or shortstop and his hitting is improving. He has walked a lot so that looks good on his stat sheet. His report card really was good considering he has some ground to make up from the progress report card. He has decided it much easier to get the work done before it is due than to have to make it all up in three days (all missing assignments I made him do and turn in even if he did not get credit for them) He has told me lesson learned and it won't happen again. We shall see.

Taylor is playing softball. Their games have not started yet but she is loving it. She was looked at by her coach during tryouts and he wanted David to coach with him so he could get her for sure on his team. David couldn't help but he managed to get her anyway. She did really good as always on her report card.

Hayden gets to play with Taylor on the same team and she has really improved over last year. When I made a comment to her she replied "It helps when you have a coach who teaches you instead of just thinking you already know what to do!" I guess she is right. She loves it and looks so cute being the smallest out there on the field. She did really good on her report card and took a very big spelling test and out of 100 words only missed 8!

Autumn is playing tee-ball this year and is so excited to finally be playing. She told me that she has waited her whole life to play softball! At first she kept telling her coaches that her dad was her coach and if they needed to know anything they could ask him. It was cute to watch as they kept moving her around to hit and she kept going back to where her dad had taught her stand. She thinks being pitcher is the best and thinks she is pretty good at it. You don't really pitch in tee-ball but if it makes her happy we won't tell her. School for her is just so fun. I love that I get to spend this time with her as we home-school. Next year will be an adjustment for her when she discovers the teacher has more than just her to pay attention to. Later I will post her first "book" she made.

The other kids are doing well working and going to school (Ashleigh has finals coming up). Chelsea is training for a marathon and so will run the half with me as well. Seth is working and just plain being an awesome son! Paige is looking for work and trying to figure school out. And of course, Toshia is busy being a great mom and finding joy in her journey. I love these kids and all they do - it is hard for me to believe sometimes that there are eleven of them - I just sit back and I am in awe of it all!

POOL PLAY

I have been TAGGED! This only my second tag and I am excited (obviously I don't have a life;)). Anyway, this is a picture from my 6th file and the 6th picture. This was taken in 2005. We were living at a rental house while we were building our new home. It must have been warm on this day for them to be playing in the pool in the shade. Autumn looks so young here. (As does Taylor) I do remember thinking as they were playing how wonderful it is to be young and just getting to play all the time. The older these younger girls get the more I bet they wish they could just play all the time now. With all the activities and things going on now a dip in the pool just for fun sounds pretty relaxing about now!

Now I tag 6 people: Rochelle, Aundrea, Lynn, Lorna, Tiffany E. , Tiffany C.

1. Go to the sixth file in your documents/my pictures.

2. Go to the sixth picture.

3. Blog about that picture.

4. Then tag 6 more people.

5. Name your picture.

Weekend update

Waking up Saturday morning I knew it was going to be a very busy day. I had lots planned and I could not stay in bed very long after I woke. So off on a five mile run I went to clear my head and get ready for a very special weekend. It proved to be special indeed!

For the first time we decided to venture the Easter egg hunt at the fair grounds. Toshia and the boys and David and I took the little kids. I was a little late because of a meeting I had so before I got there they got to pet animals and do lots of fun things. I was really impressed with how organized it was. There were lots and lots of kids and thousands of eggs to find. They had it broken down into age groups so it was really manageable. The kids had lots of fun and we decided this was much easier than trying to do our own like in the past. This will become a new Easter tradition for us! After that I took the girls shopping for their Easter shoes and then to a movie. The Hannah Montana movie had just opened and they really wanted to see it. It was very well done. I really liked it. Then we went grocery shopping. That in it self is a big thing for me to take kids with me buying groceries, but I have to say they were lots of help. And if that was not enough to fill our day when we got home we boiled our eggs and Adrian came over and we colored eggs.

Adrian had missed out on this the last time we did it at the beach. Luke was there but he was not. He really had a lot of fun with the girls and it was so much fun to have the kids be able to do a lot of this on their own and not have to worry about baby or toddlers. This is a first for me. Of course, next year Jonathan will be in the mix and he will undoubtedly make things very creative:) Speaking of which that little grandson of ours has really grown. I watched him yesterday and boy is he a talker! He really has discovered his voice and it is adorable.

Here he is with Chloe. What a cutie! I love my "grandma" time with him. He reminds me so much of Noah. Anyway, back to the weekend. Toshia had dinner for us on Easter and it was so wonderful to see and be with all the kids. She did a great job and I think it is so sweet to watch her as she comes into her own as a wife and mother. At church we had a wonderful program and I really felt the spirit of what the Easter holiday really is about. While all the eggs and candy and spring things are wonderful, the real reason for it all is that our Savior died and was resurrected. He atoned for us and gave us the gift to be able to return back to live with our Heavenly Father. As I learn to apply the atonement more in my life I am so thankful for this sacrifice he made. It is only through the atonement that we can really be whole! I am glad for the wonderful weekend of spending time with my family and to share in this celebration that is for all!