I read many blogs, right? The other day someone asked me what book I was reading and said, "Well, do blogs count????" Thanks to my handy dandy google reader I can check up on my favorite crafty/home decor blogs and my friend's blogs in seconds. Love that. (and I know books are good to read, too, and I always have a goal in my head to read one real book every month but I don't usually find the time to fit in real reading...i know, bad erica!, that is unless it's about a wizard boy or vampires) But this one I feel like I should pass on and I'm thankful that Carrie put it on her blog to share with me! I spent like 45 minutes this morning reading over her ideas and tips for scripture study and teaching her family. I really want to start her version of a scripture journal, and do these things with my kids when we read scripture together, and make these paper dolls, do this for FHE, the list goes on and on. It's really practical and I feel reenergized about scripture study and FHE and being better about reading with and teaching my kids about the scriptures. So, check it out.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Baseball has begun.
I've pretty much been waiting for my kids to play baseball since the last day that I played competitive softball. I just love sports and I love to see kids enjoy them. Pacen has been super excited to play baseball this year but is bummed that he's not on his school friends' team. That's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes, but tonight, he got to 'verse' (that is what Pacen calls it....hey mom, who is BYU versing tonight....and he even got his friend to say it and his mom was like, "Yeah, Aiden said he was versing Pacen's team...I wasn't too sure what that meant at first but I figured it out." Sorry I think it's cute and I haven't corrected that one yet.) Anyway he got to play against a team that had a few school friends on it and he was pretty excited about that. He wasn't too sure how it would all work out because he didn't know if he could "go easy on them" but the night ended with everyone in smiles.
...miss. Dang.
Second pitch....Big swing and a....hit!!!! Woohoo!
I love that his little buddy is waving hi to him.
Is he coaching the World Series...nope, but I love the enthusiasm.
Running home....SAFE!
My work here is done.
Out in the field. This is Pacen being intimidating. :)
Second trip to the plate....
Not everyone was as into the game as some....
Claira slept the whole time in my friend's stroller. Thanks for being the prepared mom!
Camry played on the grass...we ran to the tree and back and she learned how to climb a chain link fence.
Me wrestling the monkeys. And Gench in her cute pink bunny suit. Think A Christmas Story.
Even Daddy was there! Yippee!
And Roman!!!!
And if Roman is there, I guess emily has to be with him. :)
Don't these two look alike?!?!
Afterwards we celebrated the beginning of baseball season with pizza from Rocco's and it was delicious! Hooray for baseball!!!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Sweet 16 Baby!
okay, okay... not the greatest picture. Not even a GOOD picture, but we had to document our celebratory pie at Marie Calendars after watching the cougars DESTROY the zags!!!!! It is Jimmer-time folks!!!!!! And I couldn't help but think of Shellie Shultz while at the MC...good MI memories. Go cougars!!!!
Friday, March 18, 2011
Pacen's Trip to the Symphony
Like I said yesterday, Pacen has his trip to the SF Symphony yesterday. This morning he would not get up and he said, "I just did too many fun things yesterday. I'm too tired." That, and that the kids were just up playing until 9:30 last night. Get out of bed, dude! Pacen has a little school friend named Aiden that he has become good friends with. He got to ride in his car to the BART station and his mom took some cute pictures and gave them to me. Yeah! I love seeing Pacen in a school setting. I don't get to get in his classroom very often...like never...okay, once for his presentation and I am going to go in on Wednesdays in April and I'm pumped about that, but I just think that he is so cute when he's at school.
I didn't really buy Pacen a big jacket this year. He only wears his zip up hoodies and its not that cold here, but I felt bad having him go into the city without a good jacket so I tried to see if his old one fit and it didn't but he insisted on wearing it. I kept trying to tell him that the sleeves were too short, but he didn't care surprisingly enough. In fact, he doesn't really like things touching his wrists so this was just perfect for him.
At the symphony. In Pacen's words, "Aiden's mom took a picture of us before the symphony started. My favorite part of the symphony was the song from Star Wars."
"We are doing a word search and we are trying to find all of our names. We were eating lunch at Chevy's. I ate chicken sticks. And I drank sierra mist which is soda and I had a big kid cup like you guys drink when we go to a restaurant with our whole family."
"That other boy is Aiden D."
"This is City Hall. We took a picture of all the first graders. Our parents took a picture of us. And Mrs. Howitt said we should all scream, "Symphony!"
I'm pretty sure he had a darn good time. Yeah for the first grade!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Happy March 17th!!!
Today was St. Patrick's Day.
It was also Becky's birthday. Happy birthday, Becky. I love you.
And it is now my newest nephew's birthday!!! Kaylee gave birth to a 9 lb. 7 oz. baby boy today! I can't wait to take some pictures of that chunky monkey when we are up in Washington! Whew...nine pounds. That is quite the little man.
So, since when did St. Patrick's day become like a real holiday? All I remember about St. Patrick's day as a kid was the importance to wear green or you would be pinched, but, it seems that it is much larger than that these days. And I blame Carrie. Camry has all these ideas about what the leprechaun does and I'm pretty sure she got all of them from Asher. Today after Camry wakes up she says, "Oh, I'm going to look under my pillow to see if the Leprechaun left me some gold!" What??!?! Ummmm, you better not do that if you don't want to be disappointed. And then later she said, "Well I need to look in my Leprechaun trap to see if we caught a leprechaun last night. Leprechaun's are real, you know. Really, they are. Asher's mom saw one in their kitchen and it moved." Sorry, Camry. Maybe next year I'll be more festive for st. patty's day. I did make a green cake and I did turn the milk green but then none of my kids would drink it. I'm just leaving room for improvement here. I can't be the best mom in the world all the time.
Maybe one of the reasons I flaked today was because I had to have Pacen to school at 7:15 in the AM for their trip to the SF Symphony. My little boy rode on the BART on a class field trip to the symphony. How awesome is that?!?!!? He was sooooo excited and had a really awesome time. They had little booklets with games and maps and things to entertain them on the trip and the symphony played some Star Wars music so life was good. And he got chicken strips for lunch. It really doesn't get any better than that. I really like Pacen's school. I love that he has the opportunity to do things like that because I would never think to take my children to a symphony, in fact, I don't think I have ever been to a symphony so he has one upped me on that.
Last night Than and I tried to go to the temple. I say tried, because we didn't actually go because my temple recommend expired (it expires every 2 years and you have to renew it with interviews with a member of the Bishopric and Stake Presidency). That happened after I had Claira too. It is hard to get to the temple with a new baby and now that she is on a bottle I don't really have an excuse and so I was excited to go and we had babysitting arranged and we're all dressed and get there on time even only to see that my recommend had expired. So, instead we got some good Thai food in Berkeley and it was fun to be on a little mid week date with Than. Than and I really are two peas in a pod. Neither one of us are incredible organized and we lose things and forget about things all the time. For instance, when he was in LV, he jumped in the pool with his cell phone in his pocket. In Hawaii, he jumped into the ocean (not just jumped but boogie boarded for hours) with our rental car keys that were completely electronic and luckily he didn't lose them, he just ruined them for a few hours until they dried out. Today he left his MiFi card at the airport but found it, only to leave his jacket at Brad's house. I love you babe. I still haven't mailed the mail you asked me to mail five days ago. Why...because I don't have any stamps and I have been to the store a few times I just never think to buy any. Our brains just don't work as well as they used to. But really, did they ever work well????
Today we had some friends over to watch the BYU game and it was so fun. The kids just played and played and played and we so loud. As my kids are getting older they are getting much louder. I miss not having two living areas in my house. And BYU won!!!! Now they just need to win on Saturday and I will have a happy husband. I really love watching a BYU game with Pacen. He loves his cougars. I hope that never changes.
And Than is home! Yeah! That means I'm out of there. I haven't taken any pictures the past couple days and I'm having some withdrawals. Here are a couple of Gentry that I took a week or so ago.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
15 on 15 in 15
I've got a few minutes while the kids watch a show. Lets see if I can think of 15 things on my brain. Go ahead and try it!
2. Pacen today also had to start an extra math class. He is not what I like to call a "critical thinker" and doesn't do well on his tests. Homework is just fine, just not the test. So, his teacher offered an extra math help class and I though, what the heck we'll do it, and then she told me it was for an hour after school, four days a week for two months. What?!?!? Are we studying for the SAT's?!?! Whatev. I was just scared that he wouldn't feel smart but today during best and worst he said it was his best.
3. I have worked out with Jillian Michaels 4 times last week and 0 times yet this week! AAAHHHH!!! I need to be consistent but that requires me to get up way too early. I even made out a little sheet for me to fill in what I've eaten and how much water I drank and how much I worked out and I filled it out really well until Thursday of last week and then it's been downhill from there.
4. The reason for the end of #3--THE BEST ICE CREAM EVER. Here is the description on the box.....Name: Monster Cookie...sinfully indulgent peanut butter ice cream blended with candy coated chocolate pieces and oatmeal cookies. Holy crap it's delicious. So if you are ever in Target, and if you're reading my blog there is a 90% chance you frequent target at least two times a week, pick some up. It's archer farms brand and it is fantastic.
5. Pacen has a loose tooth!!!!! I was looking at his mouth yesterday and his bottom teeth looked funny and I checked it out and it was loose! But I'm not allowed to touch it for fear of blood and pain. I'm excited for the Tooth Fairy. I should make one of those tooth fairy pillows for the kids.
6. I hate curtains. I tried buying these fun kid curtains for the playroom and I think they just look like crap. And then I bought this little red thing from target the other day for our bedroom and it looks just so sloppy. Maybe the trick is spending real money on curtains but I'm too cheap for that. And I think, blogworld makes curtains look so easy. They lie! Or I'm just not that talented or creative.
7. Than is coming home tonight!!!! He's been in Seattle, and he got to see Erin's new pad. But we are excited because we are going to see Erin's new pad in just a few weeks!! Road trip with four kids, baby! Can't wait!
8. And on our roady we are going to see Kaylee's new baby George, that is, if he ever comes! She is a few days over due and not really happy about that. But she looks fantastic! I can't wait to meet that little baby and see their life in Kennewick.
9. Camry has started talking weird and it really, really bugs me. It's not like she is talking weird because something is wrong with her, she just thinks it sounds cool or something. It's with her R's...she'll say, Wat-ah. or Sist-ah. Or fo-ah. that's supposed to be four. I can't explain that one. BUt it is driving me batty and I keep correcting her, I let it slide for a while thinking it would go away but it hasn't and I don't want her to not be able to spell because she thinks this self induced speech impediment sounds cute. Do I sound like a mean mom???
10. Claira cried today because I didn't buy her a toy from the Disney store. And she cried for like 30 minutes about it. And then it was her 'worst' at dinner today. Funny thing was that her 'best' was going to the park with daddy.
11. Claira has also used the potty without my help and that has been fantastic! I love that she'll say, "Oh, I need to go potty!" and then run in there and come out without any clothes on. It's a naked job around here. :)
12. For dinner, we ate chicken with this Thai sauce from Trader Joe's and it was so good. I made my own curry a few weeks ago and it wasn't good enough to take the time to make when you have a great bottle of Trader Joe's sauce that takes 5 minutes. And my kids love it, too! I don't think I would have touched food like that when I was a kid. I love trader joe's for that sauce, and their frozen brown rice, and their olive oil. And their chocolate covered joe joe's at Christmastime.
13. I've had a goal to do some crafty things with Camry and Claira lately. I've gotten ideas off the no time for flash cards blog and I think that they like it. And I just feel like they play better with each other when that isn't the only thing that they do all day. Definitely less screaming girls when I organize stuff for them to do.
14. What else.......I put a shelf up in my room that only has pictures of Than and me. Actually two shelves. It's borderline obnoxious but I love it. I tried to put up pictures of just us on our vacations and the different places we lived. It spans from provo, to san diego, to New York, to North Carolina, to Taiwan, to Maui, to Cozumel, to Mazatlan and more. It's so fun to look at remember all the fun we've had and how blessed we've been to do such cool things. It's also nice to look at the end of a stressful busy day and think, life is good even if it's busy. And when you take so many pictures, it's a crime not to look at them once in a while.
15. The kids show is over so this must have taken me 30 minutes. Gentry has been on my lap so it's a little difficult to type fast. It's 6:39 and the kids will be in their beds as soon as I brush teeth, read scriptures, and say some prayers. Maybe I will work out with Jillian after I clean up dinner, or maybe I'll eat a big, huge bowl of Monster Cookie while watching the biggest loser. I'm pretty sure it'll be the latter, but who knows?!?! I may get crazy and do both!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
The boys are back in town.
When I asked Pacen what his favorite part of the trip was, he said, "All of it." They were pretty depressed last night, but you win some, you lose some. It's a good lesson for Pacen to learn, especially since he is a BYU fan after all. :)
Besides watching hours of basketball, hanging out with Dad and Sam, I'm pretty sure Pacen's favorite part was the food. That was the game plan all along--to eat as much as they could--and I think that they did that successfully. Pacen was pumped to be able to eat pancakes, french toast, waffles and ice cream all in the same meal. That is the beauty of vegas, baby.
But, Pacen was very excited to see all of us and be home. He gave us all big hugs and has been super happy all morning. He's already doing his 'reenactment' of the games in the kitchen. And Than is packing up to head out on a business trip. Nothing like seeing four airports in one day!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Good Friday!
I had a pretty fantastic day with my girls today, but I would be pretty happy to be sitting with my boys in vegas right now. Tell me you watched the BYU game. Oh.my.freaking.heck I'm really in love with Jimmer now. Sorry babe but I know you have a bigger man crush on him than I do. 52 points!!!! And guess what is the COOLEST and MOST IMPORTANT part about that.....drumroll.....is the suspense killing you......Pacen was the last fan to give Jimmer a high five before the game!!! It's pretty much all about my son! The dude is good luck. I guess he was counting every Jimmer point and asking Than, "Has anyone ever scored that many?" Not for BYU...he's pretty unbelievable. Man, that would have been fun to be there. I'm SO GLAD that they were there. That game made the whole trip totally worth it. So much fun. And we were holding down the home front dancing to Teach Me How to Jimmer! It really makes a mom proud when her sweet little Claira looks at the TV and says, "Hey mom, that's Jimmer!"
Well, we had fun today too even though we weren't swimming and eating and watching basketball in vegas. We went to the zoo, baby. And on the way we sang, "Mom's taking us to the zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow..." I went with two girls in my ward and we had a great day. It seemed like we mostly talked but we did see a few animals along the way.
This is the only animal picture I took. This guy was hilarious staring at the kids.
And then some smaller monkeys were putting on a show. The kids were pretending that they were watching a movie here. Kids have funny imaginations.
Really the majority of our time was spent in this little kid play area.
As with most water play areas, the problem is you get wet. And Claira stuck her foot in the water and couldn't handle the wet pants, so the pants came off for the rest of the day. It's a good thing she wore a long sweater! Her little buddy in front of her in this picture ended up soaking all of his clothes and wore Camry's pink vest for the rest of the day. Poor guy.
The little guy on the right is Camry's good friend out here. And you can see his brother sporting cam's vest in the first one. It feels like we are finally making some good friends out here.
Now we need to all rest well tonight so that we can fully cheer on the cougars tomorrow!
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