Holiday Happenings

 The girl's ballet "school" did a production of the Nutcracker.  Their class was the snowflake class.  The show was pretty chaotic, but everyone had fun.

 My little ballerinas

 Camille and Grace had a lot of audience support from their friends and my family who came.

 Around 11 pm on Christmas Eve after we got the bikes built.  We went to my parent's house that day and had fun being with the fam.  Here are some excerpts from the girl's prayers that night:

Grace:  "Thank you for baby Jesus and that it's Christmas"

Camille:  "Please help Santa to get here safely tonight"

 On Christmas morning the girls snuck out "to go to the bathroom" and to check out their gifts.  We could hear them whispering in their room about "bikes....whisper whisper.... bikes!"  We made them wait until Clark woke up to open their gifts, although we let them break into their stockings.

 Princesses from Granddad and Ama

And a hippo too!

Finally after breakfast we went out to ride bikes.  At this point, Camille had fallen down a driveway, so everyone was a little wary of falling again.  And both girls got off their bikes about 100 feet from the end of tbe block so they could walk their bikes across the street.

Concentrating

Sad not to be riding or just sleepy?



I hope that your Christmas was just as grand!

Real Men

Real Men don't mind looking silly in one shoe and no pants and their bathrobes.
Real men arent afraid to give their moms a "mwah" (isn't this picture just the worst?)

Real Men help their moms bake cookies, and do it without a shirt. Hey, that's just how Real Men bake!

Then these Real Men drag their ponies from their rooms and ride them while they help load the dishwasher.

Real Men take care of babies too. It's all part of their day.

Spicey

I am here to offer my services as spice dealer. You know the type of person that needs a spice for a recipe, but doesn't think they'll ever use it again, but just wants to try the recipe, by golly, and nothing, not even procurement of spices is going to stop them? I am that person. And if, for some reason, you fine youself in need of some sumac, juniper berry, or other fine seasoning, please come shop in my ever-expanding spice cupboard. I even have cute Tinkerbell bags, courtesy of my girls, to carry home your wares.

Grace and Camille Turn 5!

Camille and Grace turned 5 this week, I can hardly believe that these short years have resulted in such old and wonderful girls.

Camille blowing out the candles on her lemon pie "but no white stuff, that's yucky."

Grace eyeing her cherry upside-down cake. Unfortunately the wind blew out most of her candles.


Whack!

tap

tap

Okay, that's enough

scatter!

I feel so blessed to have so many wonderful friends for my kids, whose mothers just happen to be my wonderful friends. I think that next year will be a little different once the girls start school, but this was a great birthday for all of us!

People often ask me, "which twin is more outgoing?" Or, "which twin is the bad twin." I guess that there must be twins out there who are more obviously different, but with my girls the differences are kind of blurred (to me- you are the outside observer, so perhaps things are more obvious to you). They are definitely different people, but both are so lovely, cooperative, happy, and sweet, that I can't say one is this and the other is that. I'm so thankful for my girls. They have been an amazing blessing in my life and help our family to be so great!

Goldilocks

Usually Clark's hair looks like this. Curly and a little clowny. I can't bear to cut it yet, because I think that for the rest of his life...

...it'll look like this.

Indian Summer?

I'm not sure where you live- and actually, after the last 6 months, I'm not sure where I live (this is a weather joke, not an amnesia joke), but I'm pretty sure that you didn't spend your election day doing this.

Sweet

If you're running out of ideas on how to use up the rest of the big bag of candy that you got at Costco (besides throwing it out (which I should do)), I suggest making s'mores in the following fashion:

1. Place graham on plate
2. Place mallows on graham
3. Heat in microwave for 10 seconds
4. Remove from microwave and blast mallows with kitchen torch until toasted
5. Top with reese's peanut butter cup
6. Eat.

For Sarah

I know that I kept you in suspense with the Halloween costumes, but there wasn't really anything suspenseful about them. You could have guessed what they were without even seeing my kids, if you knew them. Clark was a clown (leftover from when the girls were almost 2). Grace was a ballerina- wearing what she wears every Monday to ballet, and Camille was a butterfly, wearing what she wears every day at our house to play. It was a very easy year, which I was thankful for.

It's kinda hard to get a group of kids to do what you want and take a decent picture.

This was the best of the night, amazingly enough.

Clark crying for candy. I let him have some and then offered him a little bag of pretzels. When he discovered that the pretzels weren't candy he got very upset.

PS. I like these pictures of you and Clark from last year. Good times.

I Thought That Kids Were Supposed to Like This

Today I made chicken strips for my kids. Not the dino chickens from costco, the kind where you bread the chicken yourself. From the free range chickens that you raised in your backyard from the time that they were pullets. My kids hate chicken strips. Why can't I ever remember that?

There's nothing worse than day-old chicken strips.

Halloween

Last Year

2 Years Ago

What will we be this year?

Achy Breaky

I've been sick for the past few days. I think I'm getting better, but it's a weird sick. It feels like a truck has run over me, and then I ran a marathon. Today my eyes feel like they're being pierced by needles in their sockets. Paul just took all of the kids to the gym play place. I'm thankful for him. I don't think that he really knows what to do with a sick wife, but he's doing far and beyond anything that I do for him when he's sick and I probably don't deserve it. He's a good guy. And, in case you weren't sure, I want you to know that I love him.

Whine

I think that I would look a whole lot cooler if I had the time to be a proper thrift store junkie. Taking 3 kids on the hunt is cramping my style.

A Lot to Learn

The girls have a preschool class once a week. Last week their teacher said, "you look awfully young to be taking care of 3 kids all by yourself every day."

It's nice to know that this gig will get easier as I get older...

Kronovet

It's election season again in Santa Monica. One of our neighbors has decided to run for city council, so signs have begun sprouting up around the neighborhood:

When I first saw the signs appear, I had what I think is a common reaction to election signs, which is annoyance at the fact that there were signs everywhere followed by a feeling of dismay at thinking about the problems of electoral politics in the U.S. However, I was surprised to see that Grace and Camille had quite a different reaction to the Kronovet signs--they absolutely love them. Now when we take walks around the neighborhood they love to count the Kronovet signs, and they have made a game of trying to see whether they can spot ten signs before we make it back home ("So far we saw two kitties, five doggies, three bikes, and eight Kronovet signs...."). The other day we happened to walk by what appears to be Kronovet's place of business, which was plastered with signs, and the girls were practically ecstatic--they had to literally run home to tell their mom about their fantastic discovery.

One of the best parts about being a parent is how children help you to see the world in new and unexpected ways. I am glad for the reminder that whether or not something is annoying or wonderful is often mostly a question of how we choose to view it.

5K

This is my friend Maureen. We've been pals since that one semester that she spent at BYU. I've been lucky to see her here and there over the years, and I was so happy that she came to spend time with us for a few days while she was here for a conference. It's been 8 years- some things are different, but Maureen is as intelligent, fun, and giving as she always has been. During her visit she really wanted to run a 5K, so I told her that I would walk one with her. But I actually was able to run much of the race and came in a little under 37 minutes. This is such a big difference from my running experience last year that I just have to share my excitement with you.

After the race

I am by no means a running junkie now- I don't even really like doing it all that much, but I am so excited that my body is able to do it. I've lost a lot of weight, so that helps. Walking during the week with friends the past few months has also helped. The phrase that often comes to my mind is from the Word of Wisdom: "And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint." Anyway, I just feel blessed that my body, which felt a little hopeless after giving birth just over a year ago can now feel so hopeful. I'm able to have the energy to take care of my family and run on the side. And feel good about it. It's just a great feeling. If you've tried running before and it hasn't worked for you, I encourage you to try it again. Run as slowly as humanly possible until you can't go any more, then walk until you can go some more, then try running a little longer. You'll be surprised at what you can do.

Maureen, I can't believe that these are the only pictures I have of your trip. I had so much fun with you, and I'm so glad that we're friends. Congrats on knocking a full minute off your time today- I can't believe all that you do!

Tomato Time

43 quarts, 2 gallon bags, 4 lbs of roasted, 5 pints of ketchup

From 5 friends, 1 mom, 2 brothers, and 3 kids

Supplies brought to can in 1 Honda Civic

1 cute kid all alone

4 friends on a pyramid of hay

120 lbs of tomatoes (50 picked by "the farm")

All of this the labor of our minutes in the fields, the tomatoes planted on the farm, the sun and rain provided by a gracious God. To enjoy the year round (if we make it that long...)

Happiness

I am finally taking the time to write a few blog posts today, so I started looking at the pictures on my camera and this one kind of took my breath away. I don't know what exactly I like about it- I mean, the kids all have kinda goofy looks on their faces, but I like that it's summery, they're just coming in from the water, they're happy and tan. I love that looking at this picture makes me happy that I live here and that I can envision myself living here forever despite our so-steep rent. I guess it just embodies our family right now. When we were at the beach yesterday I missed Paul so much. It was a perfect day and only he could have made it perfecter. Too bad he was working up the road a mile away.

Dog Sighting

My son absolutely loves dogs. Well, he's fascinated by dogs. He doesn't like the part about dogs going near him, or the part about touching dogs. Or the part about dogs being much bigger than he is. But, he does like a good dog sighting, and when we went to the dog store a few weeks ago he was overwhelmed by the dogginess. Oh yeah, "dog" in Clark language is "wha wha". Just so you know. I love how high pitched and intense he says it in this movie. So great.

Y?

I was talking with another ex-BYUian today about the things that I didn't do while a student at BYU that I "should" have done. You know- the things that everyone else did that if I had done would have made me a typical student. It's funny- this friend and I were students at the "Y" during the same time period and lived in the same dorms, but never crossed paths (that we knew of). Our experiences were very dissimilar and very similar at the same time. I guess that we are just products of our surroundings, friends, and majors. Even more, though, I think that we are products of our personalities. I'm happy that an ISFP and an ENFJ can be best friends despite our differences. At least we have F going for us.

Below are two non-exhaustive lists. Things I "should" have done while at BYU, and things that I did that would make me a typical BYUian. Feel free to add to my list (hey- maybe you remember things from my past better than me!) or add your own list of things that you "should" have done in your life but didn't.

"Shoulda"

1. I should have hiked the Y. But I didn't.

2. I never went to a BYU football game. I went to a basketball game and a volleyball match, though.

3. I don't remember ever playing ultimate frisbee while at BYU.

4. I never hiked Mount Timp.

5. I never made out with anyone in the Nutty Putty caves. Or ever went to them.

6-100. I never went to any of the other outdoors stuff that I should have except Bridal Veil Falls and Sundance.

101. I never cooked anything on those really hot lights by the bell tower. Nor did I find a stash of drugs as my bro in law once did.

102. I never watched anyone open their mission call.

Like a Lemming

1. I ate icecream at the creamery.

2. My car got booted when I parked and ran into my sister's house for 2 seconds and I had to pay $40 to get the boot off. Thanks alot, Steve.

3. I went to the Tuesday morning devotionals.

4. I took Social Dance. And loved it.

5. I layed on the lawn on the first warm spring day and "studied."

6. I used my leftover meal plan points to buy things that were not food- like board games and kitchen supplies.

7. I heard the hymn "Come Come Ye Saints" chime from the bell tower several times a day.

8. I never had to work out because of all of the time that I spent climbing stairs to get up to campus.

9. I got to be around groups of spiritual people almost all the time- and my life was much enriched because of it.

10. I met my true love.

photo credit

My friend pointed out this little test that you can take. I did this years ago, probably during the semester that I was majoring in psychology, but had mostly forgotten about Carl Jung until tonight. If you've been in highschool before, you've probably taken the Myers-Briggs test, which was based on Jung's test.

Anyway, if you read the wikipedia entry about Jung, linked above, you learn all sorts of interesting things. I'm not that solid on psychology as a science or a practice anymore- I did only major in it for a semester, as you know. But, it was interesting reading about Jung and his buddy Freud, and the way that they thought. I have a feeling that modern psychology is a little less "out there". Beats me. What you should take from this post is that I found the test to be accurate for myself, and I think that you should take it too and report back so that I can see if I have judged you correctly or not. mmmmkay?


This is me:
Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving

ISFP - "Artist". Interested in the fine arts. Expression primarily through action or art form. The senses are keener than in other types. 8.8% of total population.

My Kids are Growing Up

Just thought you might like to know.

Clark waiting for his best friend Jake to come out and play

Yes! Jake is a "woa-woa" in Clark talk

Clark and Grace reading together

Eating oranges Playing with toys

The End