Do You Remember When?.. Game!

Do You Remember When?.. Game!

Do You Remember When. . .
Here is a fun little game I saw on a friends blog. Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.

If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Thank You Mother Nature!

So today is my 32nd birthday, hooray! Ronny brought me breakfast in bed complete with eggs containing garlic and onions (yum!) and waffles and bacon and juice. What a great guy! I then flipped on to see the weather. The high today is going to be 77. I can't ever remember it being under 90 on my birthday before. I don't think I could have ordered better weather if I had the option to. Can you guess what we will be doing today, pretty much anything as long as it is outside in the sunshine! We will have to go on a good long walk. Then tonight I have to be in meetings with the stake starting at 5:00. Could there have been a worse time? I guess 6:00 am would be worse but you could still go out for dinner or something. I hope you all have a great day, that would be my birthday wish. Fun for everyone in the sun!

Utah Trip

Last week our family went on a trip to visit family in Utah. The last time we went as a family was when my sister was married a couple years ago and this trip we were able to witness the blessing of her first child, Cameron. Unfortunately our camera's batteries died and so we don't have pictures of our own, so we are patiently waiting for my sister's to send us the ones they took. Until then I will just steal one or two from their blogs.

Our week was filled with so much adventure and just good old fashioned cousin time! My older sister's kids are the closest in age to our own children so we were so excited for them to spend time with each other. Charley and Anna were attached at the hip from the moment they saw each other. Joseph and Jacob and Nathan and Ben also had a great time together, and Sam just had fun playing with all the "new" toys at Jen and Mike's house. He was pretty much in heaven with 3 floors of different things to do not to mention fun outside on the play structure.

Some of our highlights included taking the kids to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point, making Smore's, rafting down the Provo River, swimming, a baseball game for the boys, going to see "Little Women" with the girls, holding baby Cameron, catching up with our extending family on the Frandsen side, catching up with Dad and Mom and Grandma Halverson, shooting off fireworks, bowling, walking around BYU, and just spending time with my family. I truly miss spending time with my sisters and any chance I get I jump on it! We would have loved to spend more time there and already look forward to our next trip whenever that may be.

Girls Camp 08

June 23 to the 27th was Girls Camp in our stake. This was the first time I have attended camp outside of my girl years so many years ago. I will have to edit this post with pictures at another time when I can scan them in. I was assigned to the 2nd Year Unit as a Tent Mom. It was great and our girls were wonderful! We had 24 campers, 3 YL's, and 4 Tent Moms/Unit Leader. We had the largest amount of girls with the least amount of adults. This seemed to work well most of the time and the girls really bonded to their YL's. I also have to give a shout out to our YL's as they were truly amazing and the cream of the crop! I had a great time getting to know girls from all over the stake as well as making great friends with women in other wards. I sure do look up to them, talk about Super Women!

Our girls were a great team for pretty much most of camp as they were deteremined to steal everyone else's flags, and conquer the obstacle course. The day of the relay and obstacle course our girls went and practiced and were deteremined to be the first unit there to earn the head start on the relay. Their practice payed off as they beat everyone else in the o.c. and earning yet another head start. They managed to get 10 girls over "the wall" in under 40 seconds. It was fun to watch them work together so well. That night two of our girls found smashed raw eggs in their sleeping bags. As leaders we were so worried this would dampen the spirits of our girls, however they rallied around each other and ended camp on a high. We were so proud of them! I will have lasting memories of this week for many years to come.

None of my fun would have been possible without the support of my wonderful husband and selfless neighbors and friends who were willing to watch my children. When I came home all four were happy, healthy, and safe. They relayed their great adventures of the week and specifically mentioned how much fun they had at everyone else's house. So thank you all so much, I can't put into words how much your service meant to me as I was able to spend this time with the Young Women and know that my family was taken care of at home!

Charley's New Haircut

When I was younger I wasn't always able to choose my hair style and I pretty much hated it most of my teen years. I told myself that when I had a girl I would let her choose her own hair style as long as it was within reason (No mohawks, shaved heads, etc.) Charley mentioned she wanted to get her hair cut shorter for the summer. I don't mind trimming her hair, but cutting layers and new styles frightens me a little so we opted for the salon. We looked at some books and she chose the style she wanted. She didn't want me to come over to the chair with her so she made all the decisions herself. (I was a little sad about that!) Here's what she chose.

When she was done and walked back to me I was floored, her eyes jumped right out and I swear she aged about 3 years. Where has my little girl gone too? We all think its a really cute cut and she loves it which is what matters most!

T-Ball 2008

( Joseph sliding into home plate, touching the "T" is not the same as the real home plate to these kids)

I finally remembered to take our camera to Joseph's t-ball game (I'm still working on Charley's softball game). I put Ronny to work taking a few pics of Joseph in his more finer moments of the game. I think t-ball is pretty funny to watch and it only lasts about an hour for the game so its pretty quick. At this age the kids just want their hands on the ball, they don't care yet about actually getting an out. Its pretty much a dog pile and fight to see who comes up with it after each hit. Of course after the winner emerges there is the token throw to first base and of course the first baseman can't catch yet so then they have to chase it down. Its pretty funny and it certainly teaches you patience.I think the proportions of these kids heads with the helmets on compared to their bodies make them look like human bobble heads!

Soccer Ball Masterpiece

This is another blog about cake making so for those of you who are not interested go to the next post.

So I have wanted to try my hand at covering a cake in fondant like all those really cool looking cakes you see on TV lately. However, I really don't like the taste of store bought fondant and its really expensive for that matter. When Ronny told me we were hosting Charley's soccer party I decided to make a soccer ball cake. I have a cousin who is probably the most creative person I have ever met (Lauren that is you!) and saw that her husband made her a way cute birthday cake with fondant he made himself. So I searched the internet for a recipe that looked somewhat palatable. I came across one that is made out of marshmallows and powdered sugar. So I gave it a try and found that is was really easy to make (albeit very sticky), fun to play with, and it even tasted pretty good. So I borrowed my neighbors dome cake pans and cut out hexagons and pentagons from the finished fondant. I colored the fondant in the team colors as I was not in the mood to make black fondant.

Ronny tried to talk me out of making this cake a few times. I don't know if he doubted me as much as he wondered if the process would stress me out too much. In reality the cake was so much fun to make! It pretty much came together rather quickly and in the end I spent about $15 putting it all together. It was fun to watch the girls and their parents reaction when we told them the ball was actually a cake. I wonder what they thought it was? In August I will attempt to make an R2D2 cake for Joseph.

Another one bites the dust!

Yesterday was the last day of soccer for Charley and Joseph. Unfortunately both teams were blown away in their last games, thankfully the kids still had fun. The weather here decided to take an unexpected climb to the high 90's overnight so the kids were pretty worn out by the end of their game. With Ron being Charley's soccer coach we hosted an "end of the year" party for the team. We made pizza for everyone which made us very grateful our community room has a kitchen so that we could bake the pizza in a building with central air as opposed to our house. I made a soccer ball cake (more on that later) which the girls devoured in a matter of seconds and the girls and the parents enjoyed relaxing in a cool building. It was great fun!



Ronny has mixed feelings about the end. He really enjoyed coaching these girls and learned so much. Yet, he is happy to have time off for the time being. He is looking forward to coaching Joseph and Sam next year. The boys are pretty excited about that. Charley will move up to the next division and have longer games and more rules. We will see how that goes.

No vacation for Mom!

So after this last week of the huge amount of laundry stemming from our little experience with head lice and Joseph reverting back to wetting the bed every night for some reason, and the need for one of the children needing a clean uniform for some event, I decided that yesterday I deserved a day off from laundry. One day, that was all I was willing to take. Here's what I saw when I went to do today's laundry. I swear the laundry baskets have some sort of gremlin virus that instantly multiplies when it gets wet!

Charley's Softball Debut

Here is the picture of Charley I promised in her new softball sweatshirt. She played 3rd base yesterday and did a great job. She took a hopper in the neck but managed to stop it and tag her base. She got hit both times she was up at bat. We are still working on catching and throwing but she is doing great!

Sometimes the Worst Gifts come in Small Packages

Last Sunday we were sitting in church and Sam quietly laid his head in my lap and told me I could touch his hair. For those of you who know about Sam's sensory issue with his head you will know that this was somewhat of a breakthrough for Sam. So I started to run my fingers through his hair and was telling him how much I liked the blond streaks he had. I looked a little closer and saw something a little odd. I took a closer look and saw strange little dots in his hair. When I tried to get one out I found it was rather sticky. I knew this was not a good thing and although I had never seen lice before, I had a pretty good hunch this was it. I leaned over to Ronny and told him I think Sam has head lice. What I didn't realize at that moment was how much work lay ahead of us.

So for those of you who have not had this little experience in your house, know that it is inevitable, expensive, and very frustrating. Pray you catch it early before it spreads and then pray for strength as it is a long haul! If one person in the family has it everyone gets treated whether you think they have it or not. It turns out Sam and Charley both had it but we caught it before it spread to anyone else.

Ronny was sent to the store to buy the shampoo, gel, and combs. (When it comes to head lice the ox is in the mire on Sunday!) Man I tell you, I plan to take out stock in the RID company because this stuff is pricey. The next several hours of last Sunday was spent washing everyones hair with this insecticide shampoo, combing out everyones hair with the gel and combs, striping every bed of pillow, sheets and blankets, then gathering anything and everything that may have touched someones head in the last couple weeks and boiling them, finding every hat and running them through the dryer, and bagging every stuffed animal in the house. So for 6 people, 1 of which is a young girl with long hair, and 3 other young children you can imagine how much work that was. We finished combing Charley's hair out at midnight that Sunday. Ronny was kind enough to read to us while I combed her hair ( it took a couple hours to get through it). Then Ronny had to comb through my hair which took at least another hour. We managed to crawl into bed about 1:30 a.m. knowing we had a mountain of laundry to tackle the next day. I should have taken a picture of the laundry pile, it was taller than the washing machine!

I called the schools the next day to inform them of the situation and to let them know the kids would not be there. It was then we found out that lice was going around in two of them. Charley's school had 7 kids in her grade alone sent home the previous week with it. What happened to the letter they were supposed to send home? Needless to say I'm a little annoyed with this gift someone blessed us with. I then went through the process of cutting the boys hair. All of Sam's beautiful golden streaks lay gone. If you've read the previous hair cutting stories you will understand why I cried when it was Ben's turn. All his baby hair gone. He looks so much older and nothing like my baby boy.

So we got through this week pretty much in a daze. The instructions on the shampoo say we have to retreat in 7-10 days to kill the bugs that were eggs last week. This morning I went through Charley's hair again (I've done this every day this week) and found 2 more bugs. Grrrrr! Can you guess what we will be doing today?

Opening Day

Yesterday was Opening Day for Little League. Joseph is playing T-ball and is on the Mets and Charley is playing Rookie Softball and is on Splash. For some reason Charley never made it to the door for her picture. So we will have to fix that this week before her next game.

It has been a whirlwind trying to get the uniforms in place and ready to go. I spent all morning on Friday running to 3 different stores trying to get all the needed pieces for each of their uniforms. I even managed to make it to JoAnn's for ribbons for Charley and her teams hair. The ribbons turned out pretty cute! (So unlike my kind of thing but it was fun.)

Saturday morning started off with an early morning phone call from the Head of AYSO soccer informing us that their morning soccer games were canceled due to the 1/2 inch of snow outside. It was then we pulled up the blinds. Crazy!

The weather was pretty crazy all morning and so we weren't sure what to expect when we made it down the the baseball fields. The sun made an appearance so things were a go. All the teams lined up and were ready to be introduced. Once all the teams were paraded in and standing in their designated spots the announcer began to give some info on the games that were scheduled for the afternoon. That's when the hail started to come down. At first it was just a few hail balls here and there. Then the heavens opened and chaos ensued! The hail came pounding and the coaches quickly had all the kids huddle together doing their best to protect them. Then all the parents swarmed in with umbrellas and jackets and anything they had to protect the kids. (needless to say not many pictures were taken at this point) The downpour lasted for about 15 minutes and stopped just as it had started. We all stood up and looked around at the 1/2 - 1 inch of ice pellets all around us. Then the sun broke through and the announcer canceled the rest of the ceremony. The decision to play the scheduled games was left up to the coaches discretion and of coarse they all wanted to play. Unfortunately Charley's game was before pictures so by the end all the girls were muddy.

Charley was the first to bat and belted one into center field (that's my girl!). She also made two outs on 3rd base in the 2 innings the teams played. After an hour in the mud and rain the coaches finally called the game.

Joseph's team showed up but the team they were scheduled to play didn't. I felt bad for Joseph but he seemed to take it in stride. He really enjoyed watching his sister play and cheered her on. We start 2 games a week per kid from here on out so we will be busy. We also have soccer on Saturday morning for the next 4 weeks. Here's to hoping the weather improves!

Technology has its curse!

As much as I love that we have new gadgets and gizmos to stay connected in many different ways it has its price which for the most part is pretty expensive on our extremely tight budget. Our computer (which was 5 years old) decided last night to stop recognizing any mouse whatsoever. It had been acting up the last few months but we were always able to turn it off let it rest and eventually it would cooperate. After questioning Ronny, somewhat like an interrogation, if we could find some way around this problem that resulted in NOT having to buy a new computer, in the end we broke down and went to the computer store. After hearing so many complain about Microsoft's Vista I knew I did not want to deal with that, so we headed to the Mac store. We have officially become an Apple only family. We bought a little Mac mini. Thankfully we did not have to replace the monitor, keyboard, and everything else, which made the purchase a little more doable. Ronny spent all day and night (literally) frantically saving our files and pictures to cd's and setting up the new unit.

I love that it fits in the drawer under the monitor and it is soooo quiet compared to what we dealt with before. I also love that I can sit here and not worry the computer is going to randomly freeze up on me. Now however, I must be schooled in all the new buttons and widgets and whatever else they call things on this system, then I have to teach the kids. That ought to be an adventure!

Thank You Teacher Carla!

Meet Spotty and Goldy our new goldfish, compliments of Joseph's kindergarten teacher Teacher Carla. Grrrr! Its never good when you go to pick up your kid from school and the teacher has promised the kids they can all take a fish home at the end of the day. Then your kid and the teacher do everything they can to guilt you into taking them. Of course your other son is there as well and wants one himself. So now we have two goldfish at home. I don't have a goldfish tank and I refuse to buy one because I know as soon as I do they will die. So, they are swimming in one of my crystal vases. They have lasted a week, much longer than I would have guessed.

On a side note, Joseph received his T-Ball uniform yesterday. He is on the Mets and is blue and orange. When we were getting in the car Charley asked what team Joseph was on again. I reminded her it was the Mets. She then asked why there was a NY on his hat. She didn't know why I was laughing, so I told her that her Dad and I have lots more to teach her and Joseph about baseball.

Eeeeewe, Gross!

I made brussel sprouts for the vegetable at dinner the other night. (Believe it or not the kids love them!) Ronny was at soccer practice with Charley so it was just me and the boys. The boys were all doing a good job eating their dinner which is somewhat surprising as it is usually a battle. I told the boys if they hurried they could go outside and play for a few minutes until their Dad came home. Ben was making funny faces as he does sometimes at dinner and had us all laughing. He put a sprout in his mouth and then spit it out and declared, "Eeeewe Gross!" and then laughed and then ate the rest of them and asked for more. It was so funny not to laugh with him. I asked him who taught him that word and Joseph jumped up and said "ME"! Now everytime we change Ben's pants he tells us its gross. We agree!

Fuego

Have I ever mentioned how much our kids want a dog? Lets say its been a long time dream of our children (especially Joseph) in their few short years on this earth. Joseph repeatedly asks when we can have a dog. We have told the kids we would get a dog when the we "owned" the fence and the house we were living in.

This is Fuego. Fuego is Nana and Papa's new dog. Fuego and the kids did everything they could to become our new dog. Here's the story.


First thing Saturday morning after we arrived in California, the kids headed outside to swing on the swings and explore. I was in the house with Stephanie and she happened to mention they got a new dog named Fuego but they hadn't seen him in a few days (I think 4 to be exact). She said that Fuego had originally been an indoor pet before he had come to live on the farm. He was having trouble adjusting to the new environment, especially the lack of attention and having to compete with another dog.

Shortly after this conversation Charley came in the house and announced she had found Fuego in the cabin. He had been in there all week without food or water. He came out, did his business, and drank several bowls of water. Sam saw him and they immediately bonded. Sam sat with him most of the day while he lay recouping in the shade. We were worried he wouldn't make it, and I was a little worried he would pass away while we were there.

Then the trouble started. The three older kids really took a liking to this dog and the dog to them. Anytime the kids were outside the dog was with them. Anytime we went to get in the car the dog tried to go too. He loved the attention and the kids loved the idea of maybe talking Mom and Dad into bringing him home. Joseph had a few private conversations with Dad on the cell phone and begged me all week to take him home.

The day we were leaving I had left the sliding door open and the car door open. Fuego decided to follow the kids inside. When Papa discovered he had come in, he ordered him out. Fuego didn't move. I told Joseph to go get the dog out of the house. Joseph walked up, took him by the collar, and gently told him he needed to go outside. Fuego listened to Joseph. When we were getting the kids in the car to start our journey home Fuego decided he was going too, and promptly jumped in the car and made himself comfortable in the back with the kids. When we tried to get him out, he wouldn't budge. It took several minutes to get him out of the car and a few tears by the boys. They really wanted him to come home. Unfortunately we are not able to have a dog where we live. If we could I am sure Fuego would have come home with us.

A week Off in the Sun! (Spring Break)

We had a great time at Nana and Papa's during Spring Break this year. They were wonderful hosts and went out of their way to find new and fun things to do with the kids. Mom loved having an extra hand or two and some quiet moments to read a book or two. Here are some highlights.
We spent Easter Sunday at Barbara and Jared's for Easter dinner and fun with cousins. As if the great egg hunt at Nana's wasn't enough the cousins had another one after dinner.

Family night was spent at the park. We picked up Chinese food and headed over for dinner, park fun, and ducks! The kids had a blast and the adults laughed as the 4 kids decided to become their own flock of ducks and chased each other around hollering quack all the while. It was hilarious to say the least.We spent one day at the miniature golf course and arcade and another day shopping. Papa also volunteered to help with bedtime stories and flashcards! (Charley helped by correcting Papa when he mispronounced the names of the dinosaurs and forgot a few multiplication facts.)

On Thursday Papa declared he was going to teach the kids how to tie dye. Stephanie and I volunteered to hold down the fort inside the house while Papa took the kids to the shop to get to work. After about 20 minutes Sam was sent back inside much to the pleasure of all parties! Charley and Joseph had a great time and the shirts turned out really cute. Papa decided the kids should all wear them to Friday Night Date Night.

We were actually supposed to travel home on Friday but the Northwest got hit with a snowstorm that day so we opted to stay one extra day. The kids and the grandparents were both very happy. Mom was too, however she knew she would miss her day to get things back together at home before school started again. Besides, who would want to pass up a day spent playing in the mud! Friday Night date night started with dinner at Home Town Buffet and another night playing at the park and chasing the ducks. We all had a lot of fun!

The trip home went as well as could be hoped for and I thank the Lord he blessed us with good weather and much patience!

Easter 2008!

Easter this year was spent in Turlock, CA. I took the kids to see Nana and Papa for spring break in hopes of having Ronny get some work done on his last preliminary paper. (We are searching for the light at the end of the tunnel, we know its there somewhere!) We arrived late Friday night after having a great drive down. In the anticipation of our arrival Nana and Papa prepared eggs for dying on Saturday afternoon (timed around Ben's nap time!). Much to the kids delight they had prepared 2 flats of eggs for the kids to dye. They were delighted! They thought wearing Papa's medical gloves was pretty neat, however in the end the gloves became more of a hassle. Sam loved dying the eggs but once they were all done with the first color he decided playing with the new dog was more entertaining. More on that later.

Nana and Papa's church is bright and early at 8:30 a.m. Sunday morning so we waited to have the great hunt until after church. However the Easter Bunny (Nana) left a few surprises in their baskets when they woke up, including new sandals for each of them. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Saltwater Sandals? In my humble opinion they are the only sandals worth buying for 4 very active children! Here are a few pictures of the Easter festivities. I do hope to put a slide show together soon.

Joseph's New Do

Joseph was in need of a haircut and decided he wanted to be different than his brothers this time. He also promised to sit still. (He didn't do too bad.) He said he wanted to be able to spike his hair on some days or have it flat on some days. This is what we came up with. He's such a ham when it comes to taking pictures!

Ben's 2nd Birthday Pics

Here is a sample of the activities on Ben's Birthday. On Saturday we took the kids to McDonald's for lunch for his birthday as well. We sang to him there and then an older couple decided they also wanted to sing to him so they came over to the table and sang to him as well. Ben didn't quite know what to do with that and just looked at them really confused. It was pretty funny!




Ben watching "Signing Time" before getting ready for church.











We had a ward activity directly after church so Ben wasn't able to take a nap until almost 4:00. When he woke up he came downstairs and decided he wasn't done sleeping yet so he went back to sleep on the couch. What were his two brothers doing while he was sleeping, having an exhibition wrestling match right next to him. Apparently this didn't bother Ben.







Ben waiting to blow out the candles. (Mom trying to keep the fingers out of the cake!)


Mom gets distracted and the fingers go in the cake!



Time for presents!