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Sunday, March 28, 2010

Photo Dumping

It's time to do some dumping of photos from the camera and cell phone to the old compy. And to start off, we've got my personal fave- Charity sporting Eden's old glasses. Doesn't she look so smart?
This is what happens when you leave for an early morning doctors appointment and trust your husband to get the kids ready for school. I was obliged to write the teacher a little note of explanation about that for her to take to school the next day.
Below is from our last homeschool field trip. We went to the Natural History Museum.
A while back we had a fun mutual activity where we took the youth bowling.
Speaking of youth, we got our current edition of the New Era in the mail. It was a "Special Dating Edition".
Who knew my ELEVEN year-old would spend the afternoon devouring that "Dating Issue"!!! She loved it and had lots of dating questions she wanted to discuss with me about it. Yikes!
I have lots of moments lately where I feel like I've got so much going on that I am doing a crappy job of everything! So seeing this quote on the wall of Becca's classroom on Friday was one of those pick-me-ups that came at just the right moment. I read an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson recently entitled "Greatness" and that was also very inspiring! That was one smart guy.
Last night I had the opportunity to go to Salt Lake to attend the Young Women General Meeting at the Conference Center. I went with my YW Presidency and those ladies are always so fun to be around! We got to sit up very close. The meeting was perfect. I loved every moment of it. The talks were just what I needed. This picture was taken by my cell phone--and if you look closely, you'll see it's the First Presidency walking in to the meeting. I got this just before the lady behind me chastised me for taking pictures.
I finally found the time to choreograph a dance for some of my ballet students for their upcoming recital. I took this picture of them right after they finished learning it. These girls are the VERY BEST students because of their enthusiasm, and great attitudes. I adore them!
Charity snuggling my man. She loves her Daddy so much. Almost as much as I love him.
Our children make us so happy. Notice the way she lovingly caresses his belly.
We had our fourth Serving With Smiles Project recently. The group is a great success and so many good things are happening with it. We are really excited to be a part of it. This last activity, one of our projects was "Stillborn Sibling Gift Baskets". It was such a sensitive topic, but the kids really enjoyed it and loved putting the baskets together! Here's Celeste manning our table before all the kids arrived. Each activity has several projects for kids to do and we get a good turnout.
Our family appreciated this project as we were remembered the two year anniversary from the delivery of our baby Benjamin March 15. As a family we took the 28 baskets the SWS kids had assembled to a local hospital. The baskets were to be given to parents who delivered a stillborn baby or late miscarriage baby to take home to their other children as a comfort gift. The hospital was so touched and impressed by it. My kids walked out of that hospital on Cloud 9 and huge grins. So cute. The basket had a teddy bear, flower seeds, a frame that said "Families are Forever" with a spot to write the name and date of their sibling on it. It also had an Easter Egg and candy.
Here's Steve on a recent date. I remember when we first fell in love he said to me, very awkwardly, and in an attempt at being romantic, "You make my heart...[pause...thinking...] um,..beat." So yeah, I basically keep him alive. Literally speaking. But seriously, I am just crazy about this guy. So so so happy to be his wife.
This photo is a bit old. I took my homeschooled kids to meet this guy who I think is a political rock star. Congressman Chaffetz. He was so friendly and cool with my kids.
Well, have a great week everybody!
Later.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Family Favorites and other Randomness

What is your favorite part of being in our family?
Steve: "All the cool people in it."
Amanda: "Being Steve's wife and having 5 children with him."
Celeste: "I love that we have a big family."
Jonah: "Playing with Charity."
Eden: "That I love them because they're nice and happy and great."
Becca: "Mom, Dad and Charity."
What is your favorite part of your dad?
Steve: Favorite part of being dad: "I like to talk to them and help them through the tough parts."
Celeste: "He can be really funny sometimes."
Jonah: "He's a teacher." (Steve teaches Jonah's Sunday School class.)
Eden: "That he's great."
Becca: "He's nice."
What is your favorite part of your mom?
Amanda: Favorite part of being mom: "When my children are sweet and affectionate."
Celeste: "That's hard because I like a lot of things about her....How she understands my feelings really well."
Jonah: "She's the best of all the Relief Society."
Eden: "That she's great."
Becca: "I like mom."
Who is your favorite: mom or dad?
Celeste: "I don't have a favorite. I like them both so much."
Jonah: "Mom and Dad"
Eden: "Mom"
Becca: "Dad"
What is your favorite part of yourself?
Steve: "I like my sense of humor when it's working."
Amanda: "That I have a great husband and kids."
Celeste: "How I can learn quickly."
Jonah: "My organs."
Eden: "That I have a baby sister."
Becca: "I have toys and I have a drawer that's clean."
What is your favorite part of the week?
Steve: "Sunday because we get to relax together."
Amanda: same^^^
Celeste: "Thursday. I don't know why, Thursdays just seem to go well."
Jonah: "Saturday because of Family Fun Day."
Eden: "Saturday because it's fun."
Becca: "Sunday because I get candy sometimes."
What is your very most favorite memory?
Steve: "Being at the temple when we got married."
Amanda: "My wedding ceremony"
Celeste: "When we have Family Reunions. I LOVE family reunions! They are so fun!"
Jonah: "Playing with Skyler Hodges"
Eden: "Probably Easter in San Diego last year"
Becca: "Family Fun Day."
What is your favorite subject in school?
Steve: was: "Computers, Physics, Math...a lot of them."
Amanda: was: "Science"
Celeste: "Literacy."
Jonah: "Math"
Eden: "Computers"
Becca: "Math."
What are your favorite words to hear?
Steve: "I love you"
Amanda: "You did/are doing a great job."
Celeste: "I like hugs better than words."
Jonah: "Every word"
Eden: "I love you."
Becca: "I love you."

On a totally different topic--here are a couple random bits from our week.

Friday night Steve didn't get home from work until about 1:30+ am. Soon after we finally both got to sleep, he had an apnea episode and stopped breathing momentarily which really startled him. I was asleep but got an instant image in my head that somebody was standing next to my bed ready to murder me and that's why he was gasping. I screamed twice so loud that I was shocked that screaming like that could even come from my mouth! My heart was racing and I was panting in fear for a long time afterwards. It's been a couple of days, but my throat is still sore from that screaming. Frightening. It all worked out ok though, because actually, someone wasn't there and I didn't get murdered after-all. Phew!

On Monday I was offered a dance teaching job elsewhere. I was offered a lot more than I get paid now. I turned it down immediately because I just don't have the time. But "$50/hr", has been running through my head all week... sigh... This is where I'm supposed to say "I don't teach for the money" which is actually true, but the money sure is nice!

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Headlines from our days this past week

Monday- Steve works at home on Mondays. We love this!
Eden gave us our FHE lesson. Cute.

Tuesday- It was a triumph to see Jonah blog about manners instead of Pokemon for his writing assignment.
Day 3 of being Vegan. Not too hard after-all.

Wednesday- Found a really pretty dove sitting upright in the corner of our garage with wings spread. And dead. :(
Got our passports in the mail!
I did a quadruple pirouette while teaching ballet. That was a first for me in a few years.

Thursday- My big brother Tim came to town on a surprise visit. Made for an exciting day, and night, and next day... Good to see him though. Such a good guy.

Friday- Got to go out to breakfast with some friends and just enjoyed it a lot!
My Dad flew into town this evening.

Saturday- Took Dad and Tim to the airport to go home. (I hate the emptiness you feel when family comes to town, then leaves.)
Eden won getting to choose FFD and decided to go shopping. So we had a big shopping spree as a family, at the Dollar Store.
Got to go out on a double date with some friends in the evening and really enjoyed that too.