Great Wolf Lodge

Last weekend, we took a whole crew to Great Wolf Lodge.  We went to celebrate Sarah and Rachel's birthdays, so they each got to bring a friend...or two.

Rachel and her two friends

Sarah and her friend

After I made them pose for a picture, the big kids were off--they had fun on the slides, in the water park, and all through the hotel.  We made them check in periodically, but mostly they had fun being able to do their own thing.

I hung out with the Kate and William.  Kate jumped right in,

 but William wanted to sit back and watch for a bit at first.

 After a while, he decided it looked like fun.

Besides the water park, the kids also had fun doing Magiquest.  It didn't take William long to figure out how to use a wand. 

 Kate was an old pro.

It was a super fun weekend--made even better because Suzy, David's niece, was able to join us.  We loved getting to spend some time with her.  She is up in the Pacific Northwest doing an internship this summer, so we hope to be able to see her lots!

Mother's Day Weekend

For her birthday, my mom wanted to take a road trip to the Vancouver, BC, Canada temple.  The kids and I had gone to the open house a couple of years ago, but due to a bad snowstorm, Mom wasn't able to join us.  So as a birthday adventure, she wanted to go see it and do a session.  She invited me to come along.  So last Friday, I got the kids off to school, and ventured out.  I met my mom after an hour or so of driving.  The temple is about a 3 1/2 hour trip from my house, and longer from hers.  It was a beautiful drive--blue skies, green trees, shimmering lakes and snow-topped mountains.  I don't know of anywhere with more beautiful scenery in the country than the Pacific Northwest.

We made it to the temple, had a picnic lunch, and then did a session.  It is a beautiful temple!  We had a super fun day.

On the way back, we decided to make a surprise visit to my high school friend Michelle.  It was so fun to see her.  We had a fun visit for a little bit, and then it was back on the road again.

We went out for dinner and then made it back home in time to have a little birthday celebration with the kids (even though it was past their bed times).  It was a fun day!  It was so special to be able to spend a whole day with just my mom.  I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful mother. 


On Sunday, we had our annual Mother's Day photo shoot.   I was testing out possible locations and got a couple great shots of these beautiful girls.  So glad I get to be their mom!

 And then I got some pictures of me with my kids.  I love each of them so much!

Ben age 10

Rachel age 13

William age 2

Sarah age 15

Kate age 7

I loved being able to spend Mother's Day with my Mom!

William trying to get David to smile for a picture

Grandma and William--he adores her.

Monday morning before my mom had to head back home, we walked over the Tacoma Narrows bridge.  The weather was picture perfect.

Thanks for spending the weekend with us Mom! 

New Cupboard Bulletin Board

I love Pinterest!  It has so many fabulous ideas.  I could spend hours and hours on it, but I don't.  However, every few days I might have five minutes to sit down and scroll through ideas.  This is one that I saw on Pinterest.  I'd actually seen it somewhere else before, but when I saw it on Pinterest I was reminded that I really wanted to do this.  David was on his way to the hardware store one Saturday when I asked him to look for some corkboard.  He came home with a whole roll that he cut to fit to the inside of the cupboard door.  It is so handy for all those recipes that I make frequently.  (Just in case you were wondering, the recipes I have tacked on this cupboard door are for cornbread, baked scones, pancakes/waffles, apple muffins, banana bread, streusel coffee cake, and baked oatmeal.)

Thanks David!  I love it!

Singing Hymns

Sometime in the fall of 2010 I was feeling like our family needed some more unity.  With so many kids with very different personalities (another post on that to come soon) I was wishing that we could feel closer together as a family--more united in our goals.  I thought about how we sing hymns at church--how one of the goals of singing hymns is to unite the congregation.  So I decided that we should start singing hymns as a family in the morning.  I say as a family, but really it was just the kids and I, since David always leaves so early.  I started waking everyone up a few minutes earlier.  We started with Hymn #1 and have been working through the hymn book ever since.  We sang every hymn--no skipping the painful unfamiliar ones--and sang at least 2 verses (however we did skip the men's choir songs written in the tenor clef--I drew the line there).  We sang the Christmas ones at Christmas time, but otherwise, we went right in order.  This morning we sang the last one--"God Save the King."  (The kids were surprised at the familiar music).  Yay!  We made it through!  We all felt a big sense of accomplishment.

When I first introduced the morning hymn routine, I thought the kids would complain, but surprisingly they didn't.  I couldn't always get them all to sing (cough cough, eh...Ben), but at least we were all there together.  We always follow the hymn with family prayer.  Then we send Rachel off to school and it is time for the younger ones to eat breakfast and get ready for the day.  This year Sarah leaves for seminary super early so she doesn't sing with us anymore.  But I figure she is getting her spiritual boost there instead.

I have often found myself singing the morning hymn throughout the day.  I love it!

Did we accomplish our goal?  Is there more unity in our home?  I can't honestly say.  But I'd like to think so.  (How does one measure that sort of thing?) But we've surely had some positive results:  We've learned some hymns we didn't know, we've filled our home with songs of Zion, and found ourselves singing hymns throughout the day.  And the best part--we've filled our home with the Spirit for a few minutes each morning. 

In the new For Strength of Youth pamphlet it states:

"Learn and sing the hymns.  Hymns can lift your spirit, move you to righteous action, and help you withstand the temptations of the adversary."

Not a bad way to start the day.

So what now?  I think we start from the beginning again. 

Teenager Number Two

Rachel had a birthday this week and is officially a teenager.  Now we have two teenage girls in the house! 

We celebrated over two days.  On her birthday we had the traditional strawberry waffles for breakfast.  Later in the day we went to some friends for a Cinco de Mayo party.  Rachel opened presents when we got home.

 She was excited to get a fleece blanket too.  Now she can be matchers with Sarah.

 She also got a kindle and a new pink polka dot swimming suit.

We had her birthday dinner of roast beef with potatoes and carrots and rolls for dinner on Sunday.  She picked lemon bars for her birthday cake.  Happy Birthday Rachel!  We love you!

A few things about Rachel:

1.  Rachel is kind.  She truly never wants to hurt anyone and is always taking other people's feelings into consideration.  She is loyal and a very good friend.

2.  Rachel wants to be an author and illustrator when she grows up.  She is currently writing a book with her friend. 

3.  Rachel does not like too many activities going on at once.  She definitely needs her own space and downtime.  She gets overwhelmed if she is overscheduled.  She needs to have at least an hour (or several) a day to be by herself and read.

4.  Rachel is instinctively good with children.  She loves them, and they love her.  She is so great with William and can calm him down from a tantrum.  She understands what his needs are and how to solve them. 

5.  Rachel is amazingly smart.  I love seeing how quickly she catches onto things.  However, she can also be completely absentminded.  She is often in her own world.

6.  Rachel thinks before she speaks.  Her ideas are carefully formed before she even opens her mouth.  As one who has to speak to form ideas, that is amazing to me. 

7.  She is like David in so many ways--more than any of the other children.  They think the same and have so many of the same personality traits. 

8.  She loves lemon bars, mashed potatoes, fried chicken, chocolate and cheesecake, but doesn't like apple pie or toast.  She regularly sneaks chocolate chips from the pantry (yes, Rachel, I know), but won't eat cream of wheat or tortillas, as she claims they give her stomach aches. 

9.  Rachel plays the piano and violin.  For some reason she can always remember to practice the piano without even being asked, but forgets to practice the violin even when I remind her a couple of times. 

Happy 13th Birthday Rachel!  We love you!