An Even Dozen

On Friday my little girl became a young woman. I really wanted to do something special for the occasion, but we never came up with much. We just made it a day to be with Chloe. First off, here are some of the pictures we took from her birthday shoot.

Brandon took the day off to spend with her. She requested apple muffins with a streusel topping for breakfast.



Then we opened gifts. Brandon and I had David Boman draw a carichature of her with Abinadi. He's the guy who wrote the "Who's Your Hero?" series. Abinadi is her hero, so I emailed David and asked him if he could do it. He did amazing! I told him she liked astronomy and reading, and I love how he incorporated them both into the drawing.



We were at IKEA one day shopping when I found a bedspread I liked. Chloe asked me if she could get it for me for mother's day. I told her that would be fine, so she's been bugging me ever since. I told her I needed to take care of one holiday at a time, but then we figured we could fit it in on her birthday, so we made a stop at IKEA.



And then it was on to the aquarium. That's what she requested to do for her birthday.



We picked up a pizza on our way home for dinner. I didn't give her just one special dinner -- all week we had her favorite meals! She asked for a carrot raisin cake. The white icing just blends right in with the pan here!



One last little project that I just threw together. I probably should have spent more time getting this just right, but I ran out of time, so here is just a look at Chloe through the years.

We are so grateful for this daughter of ours. She is so intelligent and a hard worker. Our family is blessed to have her in it!

A Few Extras

Not to freak you out or anything, but I just didn't feel like posting this other stuff in my "exciting day" post. So you get a bonus today!

My youngest nephew, Nigel, turned one last week. He shares a birthday with Lark, so we had a combined party for them (along with Nigel's uncle whose birthday is the day after!) We drove up to Logan to celebrate.

(Link to my album)

Chloe has lost two teeth this week!

Our stake is hosting a week of service for all women ages 8 and up. I don't recall ever having the three organizations work together like this. It's kind of fun. Then to make it even more fun, our ward held a service auction last night. Anyone could donate a service (or two, or three), then at the auction we were given a survey to fill out. We were awarded points based on our answers, and then we could use those points to bid. They read off the list of things to be auctioned, and there was a lesson to teach you how to make sourdough bread! It was dead last on the list, so I just had to save all my points till the end. I got it, and didn't even have to spend 1/2 of my points. This was really an answer to a prayer. I'm grateful for my super easy bread recipe I've been using the last couple of years, but I've been feeling for a long time now that I need to take it in a new direction. Anyway, I'm excited to finally have a mentor! I donated a photo shoot and a ride anywhere. A 9 year old girl won my ride. I don't know where I'm going to take her, but she was dreaming bigger than I had planned. She mentioned Hollywood -- and then New York. I told her I won't drive in New York City, but I'll drop her off outside the city. Then she asked if she could bring some friends along. Sure, why not? Sophie donated her babysitting services, and Chloe is going to make a treat.

I thought I had more than this to add, but maybe not. Anyway, tomorrow is the Big Day so if I left anything out I should be back shortly for another update!

EDIT: If I was like most bloggers I would just write a new post, but I can't have three posts in one day. That would ruin my reputation! So, for those who haven't already viewed my blog, and those who don't read it through an automated feed will get this little bonus on our TV.

Our big TV (26 in.) died several years ago. My parents wanted to replace it for us, but we really didn't feel like that was worthwhile. We were already turned off by television at that point, and knew it wasn't something we should spend our money and time on. We did still have our 13 inch that we kept in the guest room. The kids would watch it occasionally, and I would watch one show in the evenings after they were in bed. But then the girls got grounded from TV for a week, and it was like that time away from it made them forget all about it. Even after their grounding was over they never went back to watching it. Then it was just me and my one show (Everybody Loves Raymond -- ahh that show made me laugh!) So when we moved here to Lehi I just shoved the TV in a corner and we never even hooked it up. It was just supposed to be a short trial, and then I'd get rid of it. One day I asked one of the girls (I can't remember which one it was) to get me something. I said, "It's on top of the TV." She said, "What? We don't have a TV." That's when I knew it was time to get rid of it. So, even though it's been over a year sitting in a corner, I just now FINALLY got rid of it. And it feels really good. This is not to say my kids don't know every episode of Little House on the Prairie by heart. They just watch it without all the advertisements, and I have better control over what they see.

The Suspense Is Over

The time has arrived! I can now fill you in on my exciting story. You see, it all started on Thursday. Brandon had decided to take the day off because he had several things to take care of. One of which was to check out my car. It's been acting funny for quite a while now, and he came to the conclusion that I needed a new car. But we went ahead and made an appointment with the mechanic to get a second opinion. While the car was at the mechanic we hopped on the internet to see what our options were for replacing my van. Brandon had heard that the church ceased their fleet sales, and we confirmed that, so I just clicked the link to see what BYU had for sale. No vehicles either. BUT... they did have some pianos for sale. Actually they auction them off. As I was looking through their list I saw one I really wanted. Chloe told me to bid on it, but I sat and told her all the reasons I couldn't, like... the auction ended in an hour and a half; how could I buy a piano I'd never even seen; I didn't have enough time to thoroughly think this through. But the more I looked at it, the more I wanted it. So, you know, I bid on it. It's a silent auction, so you submit the paperwork and then they let you know the next day if you were the highest bidder.

Shortly after submitting my bid, we heard back from the mechanic. Yeah, the car was burning oil, and it would have cost more than the van is worth to fix it, but he said we should be able to get at least another year out of it if we just watch the oil level and keep a bottle on hand. Good news, I guess! So, Friday morning we went down to pick up my van and we dropped Brandon's car off for an oil change. He decided to take Friday off as well. He had an appointment to go get an eye exam; he's needed new glasses for awhile now. After two trips to American Fork for the car, we headed to Sandy for his glasses. He's been shopping around for several weeks, so he knew the pair he wanted. When we went in to get them they told him they'd just sold them to a 9 year old. I told him to look at the good side, at least he still has good taste according to the younger crowd! I recommended that he just have them order in the pair he wanted, rather than spend hours looking through everything again to choose something we know he wouldn't like as well. He did that, so he'll have new glasses in about a week or so. That evening was date night, and we chose to go to a restaurant in... Sandy. I guess we're not very good at consolidating our trips.

Somewhere in all our running around and Brandon's endless phone calls (he's a popular guy -- even on his days off), he got a phone call he chose to ignore. Turns out it was the call notifying me that I'd won the piano! Yes, I now own a 50 year old Steinway piano. I went down on Tuesday to pay for it, and ran into two gentleman who said just what I needed them to say.

The piano is doing its job, inspiring these girls. They played it a whole bunch yesterday. Chloe was afraid she was hogging it from me. I love watching them open it up to see how it works inside.

A Whole Lot of Stuff

I am NOT giving up on this blog! Brandon told me as soon as I get in a good habit, Google will take Blogger away. He's probably right. But in the meantime...

I am posting this picture of Sophie because she's so sweet. She hates to have her picture taken, but one day as I was watching her lie on the bed, looking so sweet, I pulled my camera out and she didn't move! She just laid there and let me take her picture.



WAAAAY back on March 22nd we had a spontaneous field trip to Thanksgiving Point. My neighbor (who loves that place) invited us to go, so we squeezed it in. There were several school groups there when we arrived, but they left after awhile. It was sure a different experience than the last time we were there. I actually got to "hear" the listening exhibits!



But I did find this sign about the Hesperisaurus a bit amusing. I guess they didn't do a thorough job in their research, or I'm not from Wyoming. Have any of you ever been to Jackson County?



Sophie hasn't outgrown her love for an Easter Egg Hunt yet. We had gone to Macey's a few days before, and she saw a sign for their hunt. She knows she can't have the candy, but she didn't care. She likes to give it to her friends. Chloe wasn't even interested in coming, so she stayed home. I'm not sure what happened, but unlike all the other egg hunts we've gone to, this one felt empty! They did it in the aisles of the grocery store (still too cold outside!), and her age group only had a few kids. They had all filled their baskets, and there was still a lot of candy on the ground! Some lady was offering Sophie a second bag, but I thought one was plenty. There were a bunch of people who arrived late, and they started filing them over to our lane.



Sophie with her loot.



Another field trip: we went to the Museum of Peoples and Cultures. We learned about the Mayans clothing and masks. For the activity, they got to make their own masks.



Here they are outside modeling their masks.



Orthodontist Update: Sophie had a check-up, but they're not quite ready to start her as planned. She still has too many baby teeth she needs to loose.

Brandon and I had to move our date night because all the developer meetings held in our area are on our date night. No big deal. So, his first one he was able to make it to was a robotic Lego thing, and they invited kids. He took Chloe with him, and they had a really good time. She's had a lot to say about it, but you'll have to ask her if you want to know anything.

In honor of Chloe's upcoming birthday, I wanted to do something special with her. We had planned this idea for a long time. After Sophie's baptism movie I made for her, Chloe was sad she hadn't got the same thing, so I told her we'd do something special for her 12th. Well, when it came time to plan it she told me she wasn't really interested in that anymore. She didn't want her hair done, or anything fancy. So we brainstormed many nights. One night I was telling her I didn't know what we should do, but I had a song picked out. She guessed it on her first try, so I knew I was on the right track there. The song is called "The Best Day," so that's what we started calling our little project. She really wanted to rent paddle boats, but I was concerned about the weather. Turns out there aren't any places we could even rent them from until May. So, we ended up just planning a few random activities, then picked a day that was supposed to be nice. The day before, we decided we needed some help with our project, so we invited Sophie and Brandon to come along and be our film crew. And here is the result: our first celebration of our big girl!



I'm going to leave you with a little teaser here. Yesterday was quite an amazing day! A lot happened, but one really exciting thing. I have to wait to get a picture, so that's why I'm leaving you hanging... but it's a promise I'll be posting again shortly (like, give me a week).

Jolly Old St. Patrick

We've been much more active this month, although you wouldn't know it because I forget to tell you all about it. I'll try to make restitution for that now.

We've had a couple fun field trips this month. First, we went to a Rapunzel play. It was cute, but Sophie must have enjoyed it immensely. When we came out she said, "This is the best day I've ever had. Well, I'll have to see how the rest of the day goes." It was before noon when the play ended! Then we went over to Park City to the art museum there. They had a Nathan Sawaya exhibit -- he builds things out of Lego. Just the bricks, no fancy parts. It's really amazing what he does. We got a nice tour to go along with it, and then the kids got to build some projects with Legos to bring home. We now are the proud owners of Legos. Can you believe you can raise children without such a toy?

Sophie participated in a contest sponsored by our library. They gave all the participants a piece of cardboard and a bunch of junk (really). They had to create something out of their stash, and it had to fit on the piece of cardboard. Of the prizes they awarded, she ended up getting the one she wanted most, 3 free movie rentals and some popcorn. There were some really good prizes, but that's the one she wanted, so lucky her!

Our stake was split a few weeks ago, and we got moved into a new ward. It's really not that big of a change. We got our same callings we had before (primary), and I am even teaching the same kids I had last year. Poor souls. Of course, there are a few new ones for me to torment. We do meet in a different building, at a different time.

Chloe has a birthday coming up and everyone seems to know it. It's become a joke, everywhere we go someone comes up to her, "You're having a birthday soon, aren't you!" or "You're going to be 12 soon!" I told her her birthday is the biggest event in town. I still have no clue how to celebrate it, though. She's already been to one Young Women meeting. They had a planning meeting, so asked her to come help. She was really excited.

The weather has turned pretty nice. Still cold, but we've been able to get several walks in. Brandon's back isn't healed 100% yet, so they've been a little shorter but at least we're moving around. He needs that.

We just finished a full week of no gluten. Brandon suggested we give it a try, just to see if it affected us at all. I don't think we discovered any gluten intolerance. We're going to take a short break, and then try a dairy free week. I'm excited about that. Chloe's pretty sure she won't be able to make it, but I think we'll surprise her.

Sunshiny Days

Whoa, look at that! Did you know Blogger will now let me upload more than 5 pictures at a time? This could be dangerous.

So, a week ago last Friday, Brandon called me up from work and said he wanted to take us on a trip for my Valentine's Day present. I didn't argue with him. He told me I could pick where, which was the hardest part. We went back and forth with several ideas. I needed somewhere warm. Even though February arrived it's still too cold and smoggy to be outside, and I could feel the vitamin D being drained right out of me. I needed sun! So, we settled on St. George. The only problem with that was their hotels were booked the entire weekend. I could get a room the first two nights, but not the following 3. So then I decided we should stay in St. George those first two, then head over to Las Vegas (where it was even warmer!) for the rest. I decided to cut it short and only make it a 5 day trip, even though we had Monday off as well, but that would give us a day to relax after getting home. So, Tuesday night we were busy getting everything ready and decided to open the gifts the girls had gotten for us and each other. Wednesday morning we sat down to breakfast and Brandon's back went out. He has done so well for several years now that I was starting to take it for granted. So, while he sat and suffered we tried to figure out what we should do. It was too late to cancel our reservations for that night, but should I just go to St. George, and then come home? Did the girls want to stay home and take care of Brandon while I got away for some alone time? Did Chloe want to come with me, and make it our own little weekend? Well, we finally decided it would be a girls weekend. The three of us went. We gave ourselves a day to decided if we were going to go to Vegas or not, but I needed that sun so bad, and like I told Brandon, in the 14 years he's been having back problems I've never been much help to him. Which meant we enjoyed the whole long weekend.
It was really nice to get away. I just felt a little guilty leaving my hurt husband home alone. He did good, and was feeling better when we got back. He even shaved and went to work today.

We went on a hike up Snow Canyon. Saw lots of "The Biggest Loser" vans.


Played around downtown, too bad the carousel was closed.


Toured the St. George Tabernacle


This tree was made for Sophie (my stuffed bear addict).


Making faces at her mom


We were a little bored while we waited for our lunch.


Sophie loved her bear sandwich. The strawberry lemonade was delicious!


Yes, swimming, outside, in February!


Basking in the sun, sharing headphones.

*quick little story: We stopped for lunch in Fillmore on our way down. While sitting there eating, Chloe looked out the window and exclaimed, "Look how blue the sky is!" Yes, Chloe, that's why I needed this trip.

The next day we toured Brigham Young's winter home. That was a smart man. I think I'm going to get me one of those.


Sophie got a new shirt! She's not so grown up yet that she can't wear adorable little turtles.


Hanging out at the temple


I think Chloe took this shot


Our last day in St. George we went to Jacob Hamblin's home.


Then we made it to "Fabulous Las Vegas!"


Took a little tour of Ethel M chocolate factory


Hanging out in the cactus garden. Notice Sophie's new gift (her sister bought it for her).


More cacti


I wanted my picture with the agave plant, but Chloe thought this shot was better.


Chloe with the fire cactus


And when the sun went down we did a lot of R&R in the hotel room.

Getting Out

February arrived, which meant we needed to leave the house. I took the girls up to the Capitol on the 1st to show our support for school choice. We had a good lesson about our legislative process. It was a good opportunity to take them and see how everything works. The lieutenant governor came and spoke to us for a bit.

Then a few days later we made a trip to Centerville. It was time for dentist appointments, so we planned to take care of some errands and scheduled a play date in as well. The first thing we did was get the girls hair cut. Sophie, especially, really needed it, but she refused to let me take her anywhere other than our old salon. They were pretty disappointed when their favorite stylist wasn't there, but then she walked in during their cuts. I told them next time we just need to schedule it, and we can request her.