Little Gymnast

Bella had a gymnastics meet this past week. Gymnastics is one of those things she looks forward to going to every week. She has a ton of fun and has gotten really strong over the last little while.

They had a theme of being superheroes. The came out wearing capes at the beginning, then did a routine on the floor to "Go the Distance" from Hercules.

They just run and jump for the vault, there is no actual vault yet, but they call it that anyway.

And I think she likes the bars the best. It was so fun to go and watch her.

Play Ball!

So, Jack has had a few baseball games these past few weeks. Every week I pull out my camera to take some pictures of him. Sophie will get up in my face and yell "me! me! me!" until I take her picture. By this point I have missed Jack batting, or pitching, so I put the camera away. This year will be a tough year of games. Sophie wants to play on the bleachers, but isn't allowed to. She thinks everyone around her wants to give her snacks, which they aren't allowed to. But mostly, she wants her dad to hold her. And as he is the coach, he can't. So we do spend a lot of time talking about him being busy. Next game, I will manage to get a picture of Jack.

Books Read In 2009

So, I have been keeping a list of books I have read since the beginning of the year over there <--------------------------------------------------. In the beginning I made a few ground rules. I wouldn't include any re-reads. And I would try and to pick out something random from the library every few weeks. The flaw in my plan is there is no way to tell how I feel about any of the books. So, I will make two lists. One that is books I liked, one that I didn't. Occasionally I do review the stuff I read on GoodReads. So if you would like, you can find me over there.

Swimsuit Style

So for the past few months I have been doing water aerobics in the wee hours of the morning three days a week. Last Friday as I hung up my swimsuit to dry, I noticed the fabric was getting a little thin. Upon further investigation I saw it was dangerously thin. Alarming to say the least.

When I was nine years old we went on a big family vacation through Canada. In Edmonton we went to a huge mall with a water park inside. While waiting in line with my mom and little brother, a man in a speedo passed by. One side of the back of his swimsuit was torn leaving his bottom exposed. And to make matters worse for the poor guy, all the water park employees were using their walkie-talkies to radio to one another to watch out for the guy. Just for the sake of seeing him, not to throw him a towel. I think this incident contributed to me letting people know if their fly is down, food in teeth, or skirt tucked into pantyhose. And I also never ever want my swimsuit to rip open ever, for any reason.

So, a swimsuit shopping I went. Now, this is never a particularly fun chore. The lighting in dressing rooms is not flattering, you wear underwear underneath, also not flattering. And, most suits are clearly not made for any sort of exercise. I would say they are mostly ornamental. So, I set out in search of something more sturdy. I went to Kohl's, Dillards, TJ Maxx, Macy's, JC Pennys, Target. Nothing. In fact almost everything they had were tankini's, which are okay, or one-pieces with a neckline that plunged down to the bellybutton-not okay, really, I've had three kids.

Finally I gave in and went to a Sporting Goods store. I tried on all manner of suits. I ended up with one identical in style to my old one-I guess some things are tried and true. Apparently I require a racer back style suit with very little excitement about it. And one that is fully lined-you know-just to have an extra layer between me and the rest of the world.

Spring Break

The kids got a full week off for Spring Break this year. We tried to make all sorts of plans to go somewhere and everything kept not quite working out, so we had some adventures here.

We only had one day that was really nice outside, so we went to the Hogle Zoo. Sophie had never been to the zoo before and had a great time. I decided to pull her in the wagon so we could bring along a picnic lunch. I thought the wagon was going to roll over us all coming down a few hills, but we managed to survive with only a few bumps and no major wrecks.

Jack is almost the size of a gorilla. The kid is really starting to stretch out. He had one sad moment when he picked an animal to ride on on the carousel that didn't move up and down. But he survived and will probably always notice such things on all carousels he rides in future. It was funny how he couldn't believe it and kept asking why they would even bother putting on a non-moving animal. This is from the kid that once picked to sit on a bench on a carousel with his grandma (who is not a fan of going around and around anyway). He has apparently changed his stance on this. Bella saw the peacocks for the first time and has decided she would like to be one for Halloween. I have seen the baby peacock costumes by Tom Arma, so I will probably try and figure something out based one those. If she doesn't change her mind, it will be pretty funny.

Sophie thought all the animals were great. She would repeat their names as we told her and point and laugh. She had a ton of fun. She liked the carousel, she liked part of her lunch-which is a success in my book.

She had a great time until the train, which concerned her greatly...She didn't cry, but she looked like this most of the time. Twas hilarious.

On Wednesday, we all went to the Children's Discovery Museum. The museum has a kid sized town full of activities. There is also a big water table with plastic bubbles to play with and all sorts of arts/ crafts, and tactile exploration things. Jack went a few years ago on a school trip and seemed to really like it. The biggest hit was the rock wall. The wall wasn't too high, so most of the time the kids spent going across vertically. They did it so many times they could barely move their arms. I love to see that level of exhaustion. We were at the wall for at least an hour, then went back again as the last thing we did. There was a play vegetable garden right next to it for Sophie to play in while Jack and Bella crawled all over the wall.

On Thursday, we met Nate for lunch and went to the Disney Store. Then on Friday, I surprised the kids by taking them swimming. I was a bit apprehensive because last year Sophie was not so fond of the water. So I warned the other two that we may not get to stay as long as they would like if she hated it. But she didn't, she loved it. She didn't mind the splashing or going under water or being carried around. She liked the deep better than the shallow and loved going around the lazy river. We swam until all pruny and water logged. There are no pictures because my camera isn't water friendly. I was pretty tired by the end of the week. And so it wasn't so bad when they went back to school and I got in a few naps.

Nine is Fine!

Jack is nine years old today! Nate and I started the festivities last night. After Jack fell asleep we moved him out of his bed and changed the bedding to new Star Wars sheets and a quilt I had made him. He usually sleeps in a nest of blankets, he said he woke up while it was dark and searched for all his blankets until he just decided to crawl under the unfamiliar quilt on his bed to warm up-crazy kid.He got out of bed early as well, I returned from water aerobics around 7:15 and everyone was awake and ready to tear into some presents. I have tried year after year to convince him to not go for all of them in the morning, but wait until evening and spread them out during the day, but I have not been successful.
He was delighted to receive remote control helicopter from Nate and I, along with a new bike. His sisters got him a lacrosse set and Bella is dying to play.

Then at just after 8, I let him call his grandma and grandpa so he could open their gifts while they listened on. They were good sports, it was 7 am there. Anyway, he was thrilled with everything but really freaked out about the Giant Lego Star Wars Republic ship. My mom has a good story about the legos. They went on clearance at her Wal-Mart after Christmas. Things go on clearance there that don't seem to go on clearance here. Well, the price was better than the original, but still pretty high, so she watched and watched for them to drop lower. They never did. She came down here to visit, and when she went back, all the lego sets were gone. Then she went back a few days later, and they were back, but still not marked any lower, she decided to scan one anyway just to see if they hadn't marked the tag yet. And they hadn't! She called very excited to tell me she had gotten this huge lego set for like 75% off! And if you have a kid who loves legos, you know they are expensive and almost never go on sale. So there has been much excitement all around about this particular set. It paid off, Jack is very very very excited.

Thus far the kid has had a great day and currently I am making a football field cake. I remember being nine fondly, and I hope he does as well. This is the last year of single digits, it is really flying by. Love you Jack!

We survived the flood

It was a long and no fun process to empty the crawl space, dry it out, and fill it back up, but we survived and most everything is back in it's place.

About a month ago we bought a new couch. Our old couch sat near it in our over crowded living room until Saturday when Nate attempted to take it to the D.I.. They wouldn't take it because of a rip in the fabric. Who knew? So now I need to find out about other disposal methods, this is on my todo list.

Jack got his Wolf! I am so very excited about this. We worked on it regularly all year. It's really one of the few things I have procrastinated on. I am really grateful for my years in Primary as a scout rep that taught me what I needed to do with Jack in Cub Scouts. He loves doing all the achievements and is so excited to go into Bears. I am so proud of him.
We also dyed Easter Eggs. I am really bad a holiday celebrations. This is one we never miss though. Which is ironic, because although the kids love dying eggs, they loathe eating them. Nate and I are then left with a lot of hard boiled eggs to consume. Nate does pretty good making them into sandwiches and such, I on the other hand only really like them plain. Sophie would only try them with the shell on.


This year we did tye-dye eggs. Basically the egg is wrapped in a little swath of fabric and then you drip dye all over the fabric with an eye dropper. It goes a little slow, but the kids liked the result. The really dark egg is the dinosaur egg Jack made by mixing all the colors of dye. He is torn because he really wants to eat it, but then remembers he doesn't like eggs. I keep encouraging him to just eat it anyway.


I sang in Stake Choir for Stake Conference this past weekend. I really liked it, I had forgotten how much I loved choir when I was in high school. It was interesting to sit on the stand and watch everyone, including poor Nate being accosted by Sophie in the very back. When she is tired she gets a bit violent.

Nate and I are still spending Wednesday nights obsessed with LOST. Lat night's episode was good, looks like Faraday will be back soon. I loved the Hurley/Miles Empire Strikes Back scene. Except for all the hating on the Ewoks! I was seven when Return of the Jedi came out and I loved them! Makes sense being seven and all. And now I can't tell if they were foolish or not, too much nostalgia involved.

Jack and I have started watching the new season of The Deadliest Catch. Honestly, I don't know why I love this show-I just do. Really if we ever lost the Discovery Channel I would be really tempted to spring for cable. Anyway, the new season just started and I tape (yeah, no DVR either, we live in the stone ages) it so Jack and I can watch it the next day-it's on too late for either of us to catch in real time. Something about the drama of who will find the crab, who will have catastrophe after catastrophe, and Mike Rowe's very dramatic narration totally suck me in every season. And I don't even like to eat crab.