Going Faster Than a Roller Coaster

 These last weeks have just been non-stop.  This is unfortunately going to have to be a mega post to try and capture all that we have been doing.

WASHINGTON DC

Stephen and Whitley went on a choir trip to DC.  They were gone for 4 days, including Stephen's 16th birthday.  That was a little hard for me, but he was so excited to spend his bday in Washington with all his best friends.  I stole a few of the pictures they and their friends had posted on FB.  They had an awesome time and I love that they are the kind of kids that I didn't worry one single minute about what they were doing.

BEST FRIENDS

These two have become such good friends.  It makes me so happy that they are happy to share friends and outings and special events together.

KATY THE PHOTOGRAPHER

I posted about Katy, but here are a few more of her masterpiece photos.  I'm always surprised at what I find on my camera.

TWO FRONT TEETH

Mr. Bo lost his top tooth due to an unfortunate tether ball incident.  He called me from school so excited to tell me his tooth fell out.  Within a couple of days, the other one came out as well and now we have this cute little thing to look at.  He is taking piano right now and doing so well.  He surely has a gift for music.  He plays totally from memory.  I'm going to be so happy to have a pianist in the family!

PROM

After many tears of feeling like she would never get asked, one of the boys that was top on her list of who she would like to go with finally asked her.  He left a block of ice on the porch and told her she had to wait for it to melt to see who it was.  She found this inside.  She said she already knew because of all the "hints' people had given  her.  She is very excited to go and loves her bright orange dress. 

Stephen asked a girl he has been "good friends" with for a while now.  He saved her from being asked by a guy she really didn't want to go with.  He put all these sticky notes on her car with seven of them containing letters that spelled out his name.









Nick asked a girl in our ward by putting some really yucky water and dirt in a bucket and making her dig through it to find out who it was.  When she found all the papers, they said to look on the bottom of the bucket where he had written his name.  She answered him with the mixture of cookies and pudding. Quite a mess.

OLIVER

We have officially started working on the play.  My counter part choreographer has been busier than she planned so I have had a little extra work to do in getting all the numbers done.  It's taken a lot of my time and brain power.  I'm really not very good at it, it doesn't just come naturally.  But it's been fun and after this week, hopefully all creating will be done.  The kids are enjoying it and I love that we mostly are all there as a family.

DADDY

This pretty much sums up Glade.  With his new calling, he has really gone all out with making sure everyone is taken care of.  He is gone a little more than I would like, but I know he is out doing good so I try to be patient.  But he's not getting much sleep these days and is seriously over working himself.  He realizes that and is trying to get a little balance into his life.  He loves what he's doing though so he's at least happily exhausted. Ü

END OF THE YEAR

It's that time again, all the end of the year activities.  The kids are having concerts, taking standardized test, planning activities... go go go.  We have an "adult getaway" planned for May and I'm very much looking forward to that!  I also get to go to Disneyland with Rhett the week before that, so excited!!  Whitley graduates in a month and turns 18 shortly after that.  At this point I'm usually looking forward to summer so I can take a breather from the craziness, but not this year.  I'm a little afraid of summer.  My kids aren't so entertained by a Disney movie or an hour in the sprinklers as they used to be.  Their bodies are bigger as well as their appetites.  I'm so afraid of the boredom leading to contention and just spending long days n top of each other being crouchy.  I'm really working at my two boys getting jobs this summer, that will help.  But, like it or not.. it's coming!!

New phone

So I finally got a smart phone this weekend.  I'm blogging on it right now! Takes way too long though. I'm  happy with the phone but not with a guy who sold it to me. he wasn't exactly truthful, and that sucks. I wish they could just sell it to me without all the deceit. But it's pretty nifty and can do lots of fun things. I even convinced my mom to get one. Now I'm blogging with the voice command, much easier!  This is the first picture I took. Whitley was gone all weekend so we were chillin in my bed.
Now I'm part of America who spends all their time with the phone in their hands. :-)

They've got Talent

I'm sure you're thinking this is coming from their mother so it must be biased, but it's totally not.  They have TALENT!!  Last night was callbacks for Oliver.  I, being the choreographer, got to sit in on all the auditions.  We auditioned about 150 people initially and then called back about 50 to put in lead rolls.  Every one of my kids (except Brooklyn cuz there's not really a place for 12 year old girls) got a call back.  You may think it's because I'm on the "staff", but it's not... they're GOOD.  Rhett was called back to audition for the lead of Oliver.  I seriously love watching him.  He is squirly and sometimes annoying, but he is really good on a stage.  It came down to him and one other little boy.  They both would have done an outstanding job in that role, but when it came down to it, Rhett was just too old.  So sad, he was awesome.

Chelsey got called back for the lead of Nancy, but was really too young.  We knew that in the beginning, but she auditioned so well we had to let her try.  Whitley was called back for Bet, the girl who follows Nancy around through the whole show.  She rocked it!  Stephen was called back for just a reading part, but got robbed.  He blew my socks off with his reading.  I wanted to stand up and applaud he did so good.  Unfortunately they didn't feel he looked the part, which is an undertakers apprentice.  That's the only one that I had a hard time with, he was the best read.  Rhett and Dalin got called back to try for the main group of street orphans.  They both did really well, but Dalin let his desire to be funny rule his behavior.  Because he couldn't stop talking and being silly, he was not cast as a main orphan.  Lessons to be learned.

I was truly in awe watching them.  This was THEM doing their thing.  I got to compare them to others and yes, there are more talented people out there, but they hold their own.  I can't wait for the day Rhett gets his chance to be the lead.  And finally, Whitley got hers!  Chelsey is ok with being put in the ensemble because Spencer also auditioned so they will get to be together the whole time.  Fun for them to have this experience together.  Dalin and Brooklyn will be ensemble orphans while Rhett and Bo are in the main group.  Stephen will be ensemble as well.. robbed I tell ya!!  It should be lots of fun working all together.  Side note, Nick is the backstage manager for this show.  That means HE runs the crew back there.  Awesome!  What a blessing the theater has been to my family.

What a Gal!

This little one keeps my days interesting.  She is so fun to hang out with all day.  Unfortunately I have not taken the time to blog all of our escapades together.  So I thought I would just do a few I could remember.

First, this picture... self portrait.  At any given time, I will have 50 - 100 pictures she has taken of herself or weird things on my phone.  Regularly I have to delete all my pics if I want to take one cuz it tells me I have no room left.  Hence me losing a super cute one of Bo I wanted but accidentally deleted.  She can wink and whistle and snap and still says most of her words with her tongue way out.  Her hair is scraggly and messy even when we do it.  She has now started letting me pull it back, but usually has it out within the hour.

Whenever she gets sassy and I call her on it, she recovers almost immediately and assures me she is NOT sassy because a princess is never sassy!!  She hates going anywhere in her jammies (so not like her Mama) and wants to comb her hair if ever we leave the house.  She loves wearing cute clothes and is always asking how she looks.  She changes her clothes at least twice a day.  Not to mention she came to me one day and asked if she ironed her shirt ok.  What??  Yep, she had ironed her shirt all by herself.  I warned her about all the dangers and asked her to never do that again.  She said she only touched it twice and it didn't really hurt that bad.  Oy.

She is a genius.  Honestly, her memory is remarkable, especially where driving is concerned.  Almost always she can tell you where we are headed by what street we take or if we have been there before and why.  It's seriously astounding the things she remembers as we drive.  Today while driving I was singing "our house, in the middle of the street..." when she piped up and said "that's just so Rude!!  People can't even drive!"  (if your house is in the middle of the street)  She listens and hears and remembers practically everything.

She still takes 2 hour naps everyday.  I love it!!  If we are just at home, by noon or so, she is pulling on me asking me to come lay down with her cuz she is ready for her nap.  Even if it's me dragging her there and she  protests a little, she always ends up curling up on my shoulder.  One day she reminded me of how she lays in bed and watches Biggest Loser with me sometimes and then said "I quite like it."

One morning after promising I would take her to exercise class then changing my mind, she ran after me into the laundry room and asked "you want to get stronger don't you!?"  When I said yes, she then says "then you need to keep exercising!!"  So we went.  I'm a sucker for those little dimples.  I will miss her terribly when she goes away to kindergarten next year.  She's ready though, time alone with mom is starting to make her restless.  Even her kid shows don't last long anymore, she just wants to be out or playing with friends.  I even had to convince her it was still ok to watch Dora.  She was sure it was a baby show. I told her Dora was like 7, that's not a baby.  She argued that she was only 4.  I reminded her that one of her very best friends just turned 4 and she loves to play with her.  Being satisfied with that, she spent the next hour talking to Dora as they went on an adventure together.  Stop thinking you are so big!!

Treasures of the World

The progression of my story:  After a long day of Easter celebrations, we had plans to attend the Easter Pageant again with a young family investigating the church.  About an hour before we were to leave, they canceled.  Now it was 5 pm and I had nothing on my agenda.  We didn't have a date night the night before so I was really ready to just go out with my Sweetie.  I called some friends that had previously mentioned they'd be free Saturday.  They said they were heading out for a quick dinner and then shoe shopping.  I said "Great!"  We went and watched them eat, we were still stuffed from our Brunch, and then went to look for some shoes.  Another couple had joined us last minute as well.

I honestly had no intention of buying any shoes. AND, I had forgotten my purse at home so I would have to go through Glade first.  But I was at least going to look.  It's then that my world changed.  I saw these little beauties and knew they had to be mine.

Now, they were on the clearance rack, but still marked as $60.  Also, I just don't like heels.  I thought I could do it, but then I decided comfort was more important to me.  I had to try them on though.  Like a glove I tell ya!  They were meant for my feet.  I walked around in them for a little bit waiting for them to bother me and it never happened.  Oh, I really need these shoes!  Then I noticed that they were an additional 50% off.  Thirty dollars!!  Ok, not super cheap, but Wal-Mart price.. almost.  Now I had to convince Glade.

When he saw me approaching with a box in my hand, his eyes rolled back and a great sigh heaved from his chest.  He must have seen the begging longing in my eyes and understood my plea when I mentioned that we didn't even spend any money on a date night this weekend!  That boy loves me.  I came home with the shoes.  I couldn't wait to get dressed for church this morning!

I called Whitley down to witness my new treasure.  As soon as she saw them, her face lit up and she said "oh my gosh!  Those are so cute!!"  I peeked around the corner and whispered to Glade "see!"  Then she said "how much?"  I told her it was $30 and she gasped and said "No!!"  I again whispered around the corner "see!".  Thanks Whitley!  I wore them around most of the morning with my cut off sweats and raggy t-shirt.  Even a couple of my kids asked why I was wearing those.  Cuz I love 'em!!

I will admit they were a bit distracting at church and I started to truly understand the meaning of the scripture that talks about your heart being set upon gold and silver and shiny things of the world.  My heart loves these shoes.  But I could leave them behind... if I HAD to. Ü

Easter 2012

In April of every year, we re-do our 72 hour emergency kits. This year I thought it might just have to go undone. After all, I was planning a wedding! (which I'm almost ready to post about) Luckily I enjoy a challenge and decided to get it done last minute.  It's easier if I just get everything for the whole family and then we sort it out at Sunday dinner.  We always do it on Conference weekend so the kids get to eat the old contents throughout the weekend.  Other than wrappers all over, it's a fun time.

Everyone keeps asking if things have slowed down since the wedding, actually it feels much busier.  I guess that's a blessing that everything held off till after.  This week we did Easter eggs on Monday.  I was called away to go help someone so I left it totally in the hands of Whitley and the kids.  I guess it went just fine!

These are seriously delicious pink lemonade cookies.  They were so yummy!

On Saturday we had our traditional family Easter Brunch.  We all contribute to a delicious meal and the kids hunt candy filled eggs.  This year we got a little craft for them to do while the big kids were hiding the eggs.  I think it went over pretty well.

All the kids were excited to hold our baby chicks.  That was a little bit of a disaster, but fun for the little ones anyway.  We had more than enough food and lots and lots of great family.  Traditions are the best.

Sunday, actual Easter.. we had a very quiet morning since our Easter bunny comes the day  before.  I didn't even take a single picture of their baskets this year.  They weren't much to talk about (intentionally), but they all got a pass to go to JumpStreet so we will do that as a family one of these days soon.  Church was great, I wore my new shoes!  I won't lie, they distracted me just a little.  Katy gave a talk in primary and I got to go the Relief Society for the first time in a couple of months.

After church, we made a traditional dinner of ham, scalloped potatoes, rolls, corn casserole  and cheesecake for dessert.  Its a nice ending to a very hectic weekend.