No More Wallowing

The cousin clan from Magna, Utah. Ellie, 7, Mark, Lilly, 2, Ben, 5, Sarah holding Maddie, 5 months, and friend Sarah. Man it was fun to have these guys here for Pre-Paid Legal Conference and family vacation last week!


Ellie filled us in on all kinds of exciting information. Starting at 6am. Every day. And she did not stop till bedtime! She has an amazing mind.


Aubrey enjoyed having someone around who's smaller than she is. She was SO interested in little Maddie.


Three of the "Five Princesses" (five great-granddaughters of Jeff's mom born in 2006) Isabel, Sydney, and Lilly. Jessica and Rachel are missing. We still want a picture of the five of them together...Preferably looking not quite this scruffy...They had a great time together! Manda, Ivan, Isabel, and Asher stayed with Unky Brian and Auntie Susan.


We created cute animals from new and old interesting socks. Manda made a blue-striped weiner dog, Sarah made a bunny, a bear, and a striped bird. Maddie made a lamb and Little Ally made a cat. Allyson made an elephant and later Maddie made a rainbow-striped zebra. I tied knots and threaded needles, watched, and was impressed...

Maddie's little lambie-chops, complete with argyle sweater!

We also swam in Grandma D.'s pool twice, had a barbeque, learned embroidery (and Sarah designed her own sampler that I am totally copying!) The cousins watched the dancing fountains at the Bellagio and ate at In 'n Out Burger (always a highlight!) The conference was great as usual, and Mark also made some money washing windows in Mormonville. It sure was fun to have a full house! It's very quiet here now...

Beautiful Baby

Aubrey Jane, one year old. Photos by our friend, Jessica.


I may be prejudiced, but I think she is one of the cutest babies I know.


She looks good in any color! And Jessica didn't even get her cutest look...when her face is split in half by her dazzling, toothy, beaming smile!

New Beginnings...

Maddie on the first day of seventh grade Monday. Is she cute, or what? I can''t believe this is our baby! So glad we have her...


Amy left this morning for her second year at BYU. She will be living in on-campus Spanish language housing this year. She can only speak, read, and write Spanish in her dorm and will be eating dinner with Spanish speakers every night. She will cook for 6-12 students once a week. She seems to have a gift for languages and has skipped a couple of classes in her Spanish progression. She is nervous and excited!

I hope Loretta doesn't mind that I blog-lifted her first day of school photos.


Julie is a seventh grader this year too. She and Maddie have only one class and lunch together. They meet before school and chat with their friends while waiting for the bell.


Ally is a fifth grader and likes her teacher. Her best friend, Summer, is in her class again this year. Hooray!

Good luck with all your new experiences, girls! Work hard!

Wallowing...

Okay, I admit it. I am wallowing in misery. Most moms are happy and relieved when summer is over. They go out to breakfast with their friends to celebrate. They enjoy the peace and quiet. They breathe a sigh of relief and put up their feet for a minute.

I hate the first day of school as a mother.

I don't enjoy sending my children back to school. I love the lazy, unscheduled days of summer. I like having a house full of people. I like having family around.

Even at this stage of life, with only "two children" left, I still feel the pangs when another school year is officially gone and the summer is over and they are another year closer to leaving home for good...Having Maddie and Amy home for the summer was great.

Don't get me wrong. I like my solitude and the opportunity to get my work done in peace and uninterrupted quiet. I enjoy being able to pick up and go without worries if I need to go get plans or (unexpected joy these days!) a check. I don't mind being able to change my schedule on the spur of the moment or meet a friend or Jeff for lunch without feeling guilty.

But, I miss my kids. I miss hearing their background noise and the stories they are always telling me. I miss having someone around who's always hungry or busy or needy. I miss having something to do for someone all the time. (I know-try telling that one to a mother of preschoolers! Been there, done that!)

I know it is a necessary part of life, and of course I want my children to grow up and live productive, independent, joyful lives. It just leaves me a little lonesome and sad...

Family Olympics

Last night for Family Home Evening we held a 100" race around our dining room table top. It was Dad's turn to plan FHE, so it was a spur of the moment activity, but it was a huge success.

First, we decorated aspirin tablets with country flag colors to represent our runners.

We competed for gold, silver, and bronze awards.


We used wind power for our runners' energy source.

Dad set a new world record for the 100" tabletop race.

But only AFTER Maddie won gold in the finals!

We miss the Olympics...

Finished and Cute!

I just realized, when organizing photos on my computer, that I never posted a picture of Aubrey's quilt when I finished it. It was for her first birthday, June 18th.


I think it turned out pretty cute (thanks to Quiltique picking the fabric and my friend, Georgia doing the machine quilting!) I love this quilt!

One Determined Cat

For those of you who don't know, we adopted a stray cat a couple of months ago.


Today Charlie Brown is at the vet having his "loss of cat-manhood" operation.

It was supposed to be yesterday, but alas-we had to reschedule.

You see, Charlie was not supposed to eat anything after 9pm Monday evening so he would be ready for anesthesia Tuesday morning. Maddie diligently brought his food in from the garage and set it up on the kitchen counter. We also placed his bags of food, which he has previously been know to CLAW THROUGH when he is hungry (and he is, apparently, ALWAYS hungry!) high on a garage shelf.

When we let him in the house from the garage yesterday morning he meowed loudly and piteously, begging for the food he could not have. You would have thought he hadn't eaten for a week. It was pathetic.

Before we went walking it crossed my mind that Charlie could jump up on the counter and eat his food while we were gone, so I placed a bowl over his dish to hide it.

When we returned, the bowl was in the middle of the kitchen floor, Charlie was lounging contentedly on the high chair tray (!) and the food was eaten! The vet had to hurriedly be called and after messages and consultations, THE operation had to be rescheduled.

The funniest thing is that later last night we found a large bowl of food and water in the garage. Jeff had apparently taken pity on Charlie when he left for California at 4:00am and, noticing he had no victuals, had loaded him up. All that piteous meowing was for show AFTER he had eaten an unauthorized breakfast. That is one stubborn and determined (and always hungry) cat!