Favorite Things

For this week's post, I am going to simply type in some of our entries from our Favorite Things journal we try to do every night. Thank you Cristi for the great idea! You will probably be able to tell who some of them came from: going to the fabric store with mom and dad, getting great and a blue star at karate, fixing the insurance-finally, running earrands with my family, playing at the Black's house (x2), taking a nap with mom, making dinner with Jon's help and not having to work, sending out 15 applications, playing at Henry and Jack Larsen's house (x2), eating applesauce at the park, my haircut and seeing Peter so excited about going to Wood Badge, picnic at preschool, Rafael's birthday party, Larsen's coming over to play, a clean house and hanging with my kids, being carried by dad in the bjorn, Mitch Hawk's farewell party, winning the bike race home, seeing my family after Wood Badge, having dad come home, learning about animals at church, eating an otter pop after walking home from church, eating watermelon at dinner, eating dinner as a family, hanging out with my family, FHE at the Abney's, going to the movie and bowling, sucking on an apple fruit leather, a fun day with my family, shopping with mom, pizza for dinner, getting new prizes for our reward bag, shopping for a little bit and getting so much done on the to do list (x2).
I love seeing how some days our greatest joys are so simple and may be just the fact that we spent time together. Other days it is in the things we do such as movies or playing with friends. More than once in the last couple of weeks we have had one or more of us simply say the whole day! Life is fillled with joys of all shapes and sizes.

Before and After

Really, the photos speak for themselves. I love it and yes I donated my hair! Peter is at Wood Badge and won't see it until Sunday morning when I get home from work.

Tomatoes!!

YUMMY! ENOUGH SAID!:)

Yellow Belts and Goalie

Joey had a soccer game on Saturday and he did so well. He played goalie and did a great job! He did let one or two get in but he sure gave his all. It was so hot! His game was at noon and we had a record breaking day of 103! Joey's team jersey is black and I can only imagine how hot it must have been. He has really enjoyed playing and we are so proud of him. Jon kept himself occupied playing in the softball diamond dirt and making a little mud too. Arabella is looking too cute for words in her little shades. She did not keep them on for long but we will keep trying to protect those little eyes. One little story about the last picture of Joey kicking the ball. He did give the ball a pretty good kick but then he somehow managed to jump over the ball and send it backwards with his other foot. It was so funny!

I of course posted these pictures backwards but Joey and Jon did it they got their yellow belts. They have both been practicing very hard. This was a rough round for Jon but with a lot of practice and patience from Dad he did it. Joey has learned so much from Taekwando. He has learned to sit still, listen, and follow instructions better. I also feel this has helped him focus. Jon is really funny to watch do his moves because he so little. We are so proud of our two new Cheetah belt boys!

This is War!

About 2 weeks ago I thought I saw a sqaush bug on one of our plants and so I have been watching very closely and yes they have arrived. But I have declared war on them and I will come off conqueror. Some of you may know and I have learned that they really stink when you squish them. I have been reading up on them and the best thing to do is to kill them. Last night before I went to work, Peter and I tried to crush all of the eggs we could find or we cut off the leaf or stem that had eggs on it. Peter sprayed really well with Sevin last night and I killed some more this afternoon with Jon's help. He had great big garden gloves on and was helping me kill the bad bugs. A piece of funny info. I found on the internet on more than one site, supposedly squash bugs don't like zucchini! I don't think these people have ever had a garden in Utah or Nevada. If any of you have other suggestions let me know because I will win!

Father and Son Campout

Our boys have been so excited for this campout. It was held in the desert near a place called Valley of Fire. I was going to make Peter write this post but he said he would not wirte more than this is it. I will try to tell some of the details the boys shared with me. Jon mentioned more than once that they camped in in the desert with thte stickers. Joey and Jon both mentioned the snake you will see a picture of below. One of the older boys found the rattlesnake and so the men tried to get it out of camp but it slithered back in two or three times so Peter and another guy decided it was time to kill it. I did not add those pictures. Peter states they let the boys see it and touch it if they wanted and tried to use it to teach them about being safe around snakes. I was relieved to know that they did what was needed to keep everyone safe.

On Saturday morning Peter took the boys for a short hike and they loved it. They both asked that next time we go family camping. We are planning to go to Utah in a few weeks and camp for a night or two in Vernal. We will be doing some fishing too. It will be Arabella's first camping trip, I hope she loves it.

Happiness is...!

My older sister Malisa and my youngest sister Jana teach dance for BYU Young Dancemakers and this last weekend was the annual concert. The title was "Happiness is..."! My mom said it was wonderful and that the dances were amazing. She said that Malisa's was the best she thought Malisa had ever choreographed. I wish I could see them but to my two sisters I send KUDOS to you! You inspire me, your students and countless others! The title of the concert is the inspiration for this blog. These are all pictures from this week and all of these moments brought me great happiness!
1. Peter, Joey, and Jon enjoying our FHE treat of brownies, ice cream and fudge (we made it by squishing all of the ingredients in a ziploc bag)! Jon climbed onto Peter's lap and kicked his feet up, silly boy!

2. Laying on the floor with Arabella while she kicks and flaps her arms and laughs and smiles!:)

3. My mother's day corsage. It was beautiful and Arabella tried so very hard at church to take a bite of it. She tore off a petal and eventually pulled it off of my shirt. (Love Jon's smile.)

4. I received these flowers from my in-laws on Friday for Mother's day. There are very few tulips around in Las Vegas and so this was a true treat. I remember cutting tulips in my mom's yard and putting them in vases! Aren't these just beautiful!

5. Sunday after church, Peter worked on making the salad we were assigned for a dinner we had at friends and I helped the boy's make a fort! Jon did not want his picture taken. A while back they layed a chair down and the back rested in the couch. Jon would walk across the back and then step between the legs and fall through the blanket covering it. They would laugh and laugh because it was this was their "booby trap". I love kids imaginations!

6. Joey's soccer game. Who doesn't smile when they see a herd of kids in two different colored shirts moving en mass across a field chasing the ball. And then the parents on the side lines cheering them on and reminding them which way they should be kicking the ball and running. So funny is all I have to say!

7. Jon who when he wears this shirt has to check to see if the grasshopper has poop! What can I say he is obsessed with poop.

8. Joey's Preschool Mother's Day Tea! They sang an adorable song. They had asked the kids questions and written the answers down in their own words. My favorite was that Joey said I was three zero because that is the number she is. We have been working with him on how the bigger numbers are written like 30, 40, etc. It is great to know he is listening.

9. Quilting! This is a picture of the fabric for a quilt I have started to make. I was asked by a friend to do a quilt club by mail sort of thing. We each have been assigned a color and we make to flower quilt blocks using that color (10 of each). I am so happy about having a new project to work on.

10. Peter and I are going to the temple tomorrow morning to do some baptisms for the dead, with family names from my mother-in-law (she is a genealogy guru). It is a sweet experience to have my husband share his priesthood power with me by baptizing me for these deceased ancestors.

"Marshmallow Poop"

For family home evening tonight we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. I was feeding Arabella when the boys and Peter started on the marshmallows. Peter cooked me a mallow and I was eating it when Jon said that I needed to eat the marshmallow poop. When he was eating his mallow the gooey middle had oozed out and so naturally Jon called it poop! What a nut?! That is my favorite Jon moment of this last week, although there have been some good ones.

Joey twice in the last week made breakfast for everyone. The first time was on Thursday morning. He set the table, including cups and putting out the OJ and milk and we each had a waffle on our plate. I make extra waffles and freeze them, then we toast them. Joey loves them and he was so proud of making breakfast for everyone. How can you not love such a sweet boy!

Arabella has been a very vocal the last few days and it has been so much fun. Jon was playing with her yesterday and he got her laughing really hard! Peter and I loved watching the two of them. She likes to stick her tongue between her lips and blow, spit is flying but she can make some fun noises and thinks she is all that and a bag of chips when she does it. Tonight she began to cry so hard when I put down her jar of squash, it was all gone and that did not maker her happy! The girl likes her food!

My favorite Peter moment was seeing him at our Scout Car Wash/ Pancake Breakfast fundraiser. He took his shaved ice machine to sell those as well. He had Arabella in the bjorn carrier and he was in his element making sno-balls. He is so funny! He has spent a lot of time on the computer this week looking for and applying for jobs. We have only applied in Nevada and Utah thus far but are going to be expanding our search to Colorado and Northern California this week.

I worked four shifts this last week, three of them in a row and all three of those I was the triage nurse. I have three words for you all: Swine flu panic. Now, don't get me wrong, I know there really is a swine flu and that people really are getting sick and in very severe cases dying. But, 30,000-40,000 people die of the common flu each year and last night when I was watching the news I think they reported there have been about 800 confirmed cases of swine flu worldwide. So, I say to all, as I had to say more than once to one couple, wash your hands often and cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze. As a healthcare provider, I do like that this may cause hospitals and vendors of certain supplies to be more prepared for other such cases that may arise in the future. My favorite part of this week was Wednesday night, I did not work and Peter went to Scouts as usual. For that short time, life felt almost normal. My mind did not focus on job hunting or how many shifts I need to work. I was absorbed in my three precious children. I bathed them, we read scriptures and did our journal and I read a story to them and then off to bed. Peter came home and we watched some TV together. Life was good and is good!