Mom, you are a GREAT mother

1. You let us work. I wanted to iron and you let me. Around age 5 or 6 you lowered the ironing board for me, gave me a bunch of pillowcases to iron and let me go. I got a kick out of spraying and getting the creases out. I started young and never quit ironing. In high school you started paying me money to iron shirts and other linens. You let us have paper routes which I know was more trouble for you than it was for us. You drove us to other jobs at the nursery, the ball park and the mall.

2. You let us bake. At a really young age I had a tiny set of working pots and pans. It seems that we had a weekly event of making cinnamon rolls and various cookies. You and I had a matching apron set. Later, in high school I was in charge of Tuesday night dinners, for a time during in high school.

3. You let us get dirty. I have picture after picture reminding us that being outside was so fun. We played in puddles, we played in dirt, we played hide and seek in the weeds, and we swam and floated down the ditch. We buried ourselves in the grass pile and stuffed fall leaves in our clothes. You seemed to love it when we made mud pies for you as well. I never remember hearing you complain about how messy we would get.

4. You let us build. We made sheet forts in every room in the house. Books and stools and pillows were pilfered from each room to provide anchors and weights. Making sheet forts is still fun even as an adult.  We made snow forts in the front yard; you even brought us hot chocolate upon request. We made dirt forts in the alley, we made forts in our huge trees, we had a great real wooden fort in the back yard, and we even used the corn stalks as forts one fall day.

5. You let us ride. I have amazing memories of bike rides. Family rides around the neighborhood, long rides on trails, quick rides in what seems like endless circles in the driveway. One summer I recall taking a morning ride with you each day on our bikes. 

6. You let us be imaginative. We played dress up. You had the most glamorous nightgowns that were perfect for dress up. You shared your treasures. You also had lots of jewelry that you let us play with. We also wore lots of matching clothes that you usually made for us. Matching p.j.s, matching dolls, matching dresses, matching summer outfits. You let us have huge Lego battles over taking the basement. You provided tea and cakes and even a tea set.

7. You let us sew. All of us from Jeromy on down to Keri have multiple creations that you helped us accomplish. From fleece socks and vests to complicated skirts, dresses, and quilts. I actually remember trying to sew a life size dolphin in 4th grade. My fins didn't turn out right but you didn't try and change them for me, you let me try and work out the issues on my own.

8. You made regular days and holidays special for us. Somehow you found the time to sneak in little extra "things" to make holiday times more interesting. Holiday meals with napkins and required manners, themed thanksgiving dinners, ancestry portrayals with clothing depicting the times, secretly planning fun trips requiring covert actions, preparing and giving the coveted scrapbooks. Sticking to Christmas themes and traditions.  Making the food on our lunch plate look like a face, and playing board games.

9. You let us be wild and crazy. You'd throw a sheet down in front of the TV and let us eat popcorn. You'd let us play cut the flour. You'd let us climb on the roof. You'd let us toilet paper friends houses and you even supplied the toilet paper. You didn't freak out when you learned Dan rollerbladed out the side of the minivan. You laughed when you heard Shane peed off the roof and the neighbor caught him. You hugged us instead of chided us after a lost night in the woods. You let us sleep in the garage. You let us hooky bob. You supported skipping school occasionally for a killer day on the ski hill. You allowed brodys in the church parking lot, sledding in the street, kids to be Anasazi campers, children to go off and live in another country. You allowed us to have raging "clean" parties in the basement and make music videos for New Years Eve.

10. You showed us and told us you loved us. In high school, even though I didn't want it I knew that you would offer a prayer, a hug and the words "I love you" every morning before walking out the door. If something was broken or ripped you did your best to mend it. If a request was made you did your best to grant it. When something had to be memorized for school we soon found vocabulary words taped to the outside of the shower door or as a dinner placemat to help us get it into our minds.  You read us book after book on the orange couch, you also took the time to teach the gospel. You practiced your seminary lessons on us. You kept a journal for each of us. You took us to see family. You attended all of our recitals, school events, races, and games. You drove us all over the city for lessons and reminded us to practice. You encouraged, you inspired, you suffered and endured a lot for us.

And you still do.

You are a GREAT mother.

the view for mom

 Kitchen

 Family room fireplace

 View from upstairs

 Master bathroom

 Master bedroom

upstairs loft

school is back in session!

Summer is over and I had two very excited kids. They were super happy for school to start.

Wiley is now too cool to wear brand new clothes for the first day of school. He just wore what was comfortable. I didn't fight it. 

 My firth grader stood on the porch and posed for many pictures including this one. He is getting quite a personality.

Look Ma!

In in effort to update my mother I am posting a few things that she has missed this last month.

I haven't quilted in so long, but I've been wanting to try out a chevron pattern. I think it turned out super cute, but I learned a good lesson. When the lady at the quilting store tells me not to do it because of the difficulty level, (I'm a beginner level quilter) then perhaps I should listen. I did a lot of unpicking and still left hundreds of mistakes visible. (If I ever do the chevron pattern again I would do a different method using rectangles rather than the triangle method.)

Rosa and Wiley both earned trophies for their recent performances.

Lunch Love

I occasionally include a note in my kids' lunches. One morning I was running behind and was quick throwing stuff into Rosa's lunch box when I noticed this note.

She wanted a note and I hadn't done one so she wrote a note to herself from me. She used a torn piece of a paper plate.  he he

Translation

Rosa,
I love  you so much
love mom 

As she finished getting ready I quick threw my own note in to replace hers.
My heart could burst with my love for her.

Family
 

The view. Amazingly, this view is so much a part of my childhood. I hadn't seen this incredible view for over 15 years. The Tetons are beautiful, but it wasn't the view that brought me back. 


I am blessed to have an incredible family, immediate and extended. I have over 100 cousins, aunts and uncles on my mothers side. We have a huge reunion every other year and I missed the reunion last year. I.need. my. family. They strengthen me, they make me better, and we laugh hard and love being together.

My Aunt Julie threw a Chinese New Year party for adults and I decided that I couldn't miss it. A car full of cousins and my gorgeous sister made the roadie to Idaho with me to enjoy the party. 5.5 hours of driving there and then 5.5 hours back was a small price to pay to see even a small portion of my extended family. The view was just a bonus.

Big Announcement 

Happy kids and two new members of the family! 

Yes, we all do cheep tricks to gain readership right. Here is my first one of the year.  At the beginning of December my son came home with a permission slip asking is his name could be in the drawing for the class pets. I didn't want to burst his bubble and I went ahead and signed the slip, cause I was thinking what are the chances.  Well, funny enough, he won them. On the last day of school he decided to call Dad at work to share the news from school.

     "Dad,  I've got good news, we have two new members of our family!"

Dad was confused to say the least, I had not informed him that 4 weeks prior that I had signed a form. I didn't think there was a need to. Dazed and befuddled Ben started to wonder, who in the family could have had a baby? Was Shara even pregnant?

     "Dad, we now have hamsters!"

My hubby was trying to keep the dread out of his voice said, "Does Mom know?"

A short 20 minutes later the hamsters and four of the happiest kids ever were huddled around them.

We finished December perfectly. We had a lovely time spending Christmas at the cabin. Somehow, now that we have four kids, we finally feel old enough to have Christmas on our own. Like we have earned it. We tested out some new traditions. It was a little strange to plan all the special meals and other special moments but as a parent there is nothing that fills me with greater joy than to have my little family all together. We were all so content to spend time in the same room together for days on end. A truly needed break for our young and busy family. Happy and simple.  


Happy kids on Christmas morning. We took turns opening presents and it was fun to see them be excited for each others presents! 

Fondue for Christmas Eve. A favorite for our family.

 We spent many a morning with green smoothie shake mustaches.

American Doll love.

The day after Christmas the big extended family joined us at the cabin. And that's when the party got hopping. Lots of cousin, lots of food and board games played into the wee hours of the morning. Lots of sledding and playing in the snow. Lots of movies and reading of books. Lots of happy time.

 Christmas update:

Day 3-16
ward Christmas party
watched both versions of "the Grinch"
saw the lights at Thanksgiving Point
kids bought each other gifts at dollar store
made snow flakes
wrapped presents
wrote thank you letters to Primary teachers
made and delivered goodies
Kangaroo Zoo
Arthur Christmas matinee
dance recital
school Christmas program
live nativity
work party
made salt dough ornaments

 

This is the example of the salt dough ornaments. We used rubber stamps and ink to add messages to the ornaments.

Liberty Park in Salt Lake has a fantastic live nativity.  A little Shepard takes you from scene to scene. The actors sing songs in costumes plus there are real animals including sheep and a real camel. We dressed very warm and went prepared with hot bags. Also, we were privileged to have cousin Andrew and his two kiddos to join us in the cold. (Sorry about the stroller reflector light.)  I recommend going if you can. Check out echoesofchristmas.com for more information. There are only a few nights left.

Day 2-

Happy accidents are wonderful. We went to our local outdoor mall to enjoy the lights and gingerbread house display but found so much more. We had pictures with Santa. The REAL one.  Real beard and long curly hair. Hazel did not think he was a comforting figure. She felt a little better when he handed her a candy cane.

  We stopped into a fantastic toy shop and Scooby enjoyed his first massage. Once we heard they were offering them for free we all had to try it out. Frugal is my middle name, right?

This is one example of the gingerbread houses. Crazy huge.

 They also had live entertainment and free horse drawn buggy rides. Bonus!

Before leaving we all had to ride the merry-go-round. It turned out to be a hugely productive night. Accidentally.

The Birth of a New Tradition:

We are trying to create some new Christmas traditions. In years past I have been baffled by my S-I-Ls twenty five days of Christmas Advent calendar, wondering how did she ever have the time. For many years now she has planned a little activity for each day before Christmas. After two years of dreaming of such a fun tradition I decided to take the plunge. I planned all through November. Everything is ready. The shopping is done, the presents are wrapped. I have nothing left to do but enjoy December. The question is will it actually be as magical as I am hoping?

Well Day 1 started out great . . . 

 We lit the candles on our German Christmas Pyramid, sang carols, shared wishes, and then assembled one of our favorite Nativity scenes. The Playmobil Nativity Scene. Perfect because it is indestructible, there are tons of characters and fun additions to look at and play with. We spent a good hour just setting the scene over and over. Wonderful right?
 

Well it was. Until one kid was sent to their room for calling names.

After a written apology, the night continued.

Awesome right? (Ben and I were giggling about this note.)


We ended our night a little less magical. The kids started in on stupid human tricks. Rosa showed us how to fart with her knee pits and then there was some schooling regarding bicycle kicks in the air. . . "get your tooshie off the ground Mom, feet in the air Mom, now do circles with your feet!". (yes, I tried it too) I hadn't tried either in a very long time. The night ended in laughs. Magic in its own way.

Realistically, I know family moments can't always be pretty. Case in point. But that isn't going to stop me from trying. Wish me luck.

In an effort to be more thankful I thought I would give thanks for a few things:

chocolate

my hubby

my kiddos

my health

my savior

Professor Umbridge in the making:

I am a fan of making the consequence match the crime. This was me killing two birds with one stone. My son needed to practice his cursive and pay for his crime.

While he was serving his time, my oldest kept looking at the back of his hand. I finally had to ask what he was looking for. Finally he said, "Mom, you are just like Professor Umbridge."

I gave him my best shocked expression.

I was thinking I was wicked-awesome but my son was thinking I was wicked-evil.
Maawhhhhha hha ha ha ha.

The Race:

The Dirty Dash was delightful in every way. We enjoyed our muddy 10K adventure to the fullest.

Before:

This is just moments before the race started, we clicked a few pictures to document our banditas costumes. Yes, we were wearing hero eye masks (because our identities are our most valuable possessions). Yes, we also wore capes because we thought they were look cool as we went racing by with our capes waving in the wind. (Did I mention you are supposed to wear costumes? well, yeah, everyone did. My son asked me afterwards why there were so many freaks there. Funny thing is I was one of them.)

Middle:

We paused in the middle of our epic course to prove our zest for adventure through photographs.

We don't look very dirty here because we had just gotten done with the sludging portion of the race. We sludged through the banks of Deer Creek.


End:
I can't even begin to tell you how much fun this was. It was like Woodstock for Runners. There was a huge turn out. Fun music to keep you running, tons of obstacles, lots of mud and water and lots of running.

 The Rinse:
After we stood in lines like cars to be power washed.My hubby made a video of the power wash. I uploaded it cause I thought it was so funny, but then decided to spare you those soggy moments.

Doesn't it look fun? Anyone want to do it next year with us?

It Rained. . .

11 years ago today it rained and it rained hard. The only reason I know that is it was the day we all became an eternal family. We have many pictures with us holding umbrellas. But, after the temple ceremony the clouds decided to part and the sun started to shine.

The last 11 years have been the same as on our wedding day. We have some rain, and we might have to use umbrellas every once in a while. But in the end it always starts to shine.

Bliss, at least in this family, is enjoying those times even when it is raining, learning to love the dark gray clouds. Sometimes it even means playing in the rain.

Happy Anniversary to us.

The Routine

 There is part of me screaming Hallelujah. Pat yourself on the back Shara, cuz you survived the summer. I wanted the summer to pass quickly. And it did.

But I sure do love these kiddos. I'm going to miss the lazy days of summer where anything goes. The bless-ed schedule begins this week. Homework, lunches, soccer, piano, dance etc. Regular bedtimes begin again. The routine. Ah the routine.

This morning Wiley was very concerned about Rosa. Did she have her lunch? Was her name written in her backpack? He told me that he would find her during recess and check up on her. I whispered, "I Love You, have a good day" as they jumped out of the car.  Wiley walked a few yards then turned around and blew me a kiss. I blew a kiss back and cried the rest of the way home.

Ah the routine. The routine.

Glimpses of summer

Summer is flying by. I'm trying hard to enjoy all the fun moments but might I add that there are only 7 weeks left. Yippy yahoo, hurray! I love my little family.

Things selfish moments I am looking forward to:

I want my house back.

I want my nap time back.

A house that will stay clean for longer.

Running errands with fewer kids.

Taking a shower w/o a knock at the door.

A set schedule.

Things that I will miss.

Older kids that help with the babies.

Homemade ice cream.

Wonderful weather.

Grilling almost every day.

A flexible schedule.

 

Saying Goodbye


My cute parents entered the MTC today. We are all so excited for them. They spend a week there doing mission training and then fly to Bolivia next week. I'm so jealous. Doesn't it just sound like such an adventure? (Although a hard working adventure to be sure.) My mom is going to be fluent in Spanish or determined to try and be. Jealousy is just seeping out of me. How cool to do the mission thing with your spouse?!  

It will be sad not to have my parents around for family events and holidays but the three years will pass so quickly (I hope). We are also happy for an excuse to visit South America.

I'm really looking forward to the blessings that come with missionary work!

Birthday Girl turns 1!

 One is a big deal. Right. It also helps if you are sharing the party with two other family members too right? So the party should be fun. . . .

 Uncle Aaron shared his birthday party with Hazel.

So did Aunt Becca.

Hazel, you are so adorable. You are so gentle and easy going. I guess you have to be if you are the youngest of four. You love your older siblings and like to follow them around the house. You are also one smart girl. You taught yourself how to go up and down the stairs. I didn't even have to do the stair lesson with you. One day you just started climbing the stairs. And just recently you decided that you should learn to go down the stairs, so you did that too. I think you were tired of being left behind at the top of the stairs. All you want to do is be with your siblings. So cute.

Your brother and sisters love you to bits. Thanks for joining our family. Happy Birthday little one.