September 2012

Ah, yes. I have done it again. It's so easy to get behind. So, I'm playing a bit of catch up. Enjoy some pictures from September!

 

Above: I've said it before, but I will say it again. Every baby deserves a "I look so cool in these sunglasses" picture.

 

Above: I love this guy! Isn't he cute?

 

Above: Cool dude.

 

Above: Fall is my favorite time of year. I just love it! Isn't it beautiful.

 

Above: We got Peter's Halloween costume quite early on. Peter clearly wanted to be Captain America...at least when we bought the costume. But Peter wanted to be EVERYONE this Halloween. Even after we got his costume, he wavered from day to day and week to week. We were able to convince Peter to wear his Halloween costume on the actual day of Halloween thanks to watching The Avengers and Captain America just prior to the day!

 

Above: He sure looked cute in his full regalia. However, we were never able to keep his eyes aligned with the eye holes.

 

Above: We bought Peter's Halloween costume right before our grandkid pajama party. Peter, of course, wanted to be in his costume immediately. Maddie and Kinlie got there a little late because they went to a BYU game that day and wore their adorable cheerleading costumes. We were able to get them in their pajamas later. But for this picture, Jonathan was the only one holding strong to the pajama party theme. :)

 

Above: See? I told you it was a pajama party!

 

Above: Here we are at our Sunday dinner to celebrate Uncle Clayton's birthday. Jonathan was a big fan of the cake, and he is always a fan of eating in general.

 

Above: "Hey? Where did everyone go? There's still cake here! Well, if no one else is eating it, I guess I will have to eat theirs..."

 

Above: Nammy got us these cool suckers that made you look like you had a monster mouth. We discovered later that they fit into our Mr. Potato Head toys too!  Cool!

 

Above: Aaaaaaaah!

 

Above: What a cute little monster! Those lips were kind of hard to hold in your mouth. You had to grip them with your teeth once the sucker was gone. But that didn't stop the boys!

 

Above: The boys wanted to show off our cool Halloween decorations.

 

Above: We got a fun surprise visit from our Nammy. So, we of course attacked her with our power tools.

 

Above: What a cute little builder!

 

Above: Sweet smiles.

 

Above: Jeremiah asked me to take a picture of this spiderweb that a creepy spider left on our tomato plant. I had to spray it with a water bottle to get it to show up in the picture. It turned out pretty cool, don't you think?

 

Above: We went up to Tibble Fork Reservoir (I think that's how you spell it, but I'm too lazy to check right now). The boys had a great time throwing rocks in.

 

Above: I sure have some handsome guys!

 

Above: Jonathan's eyes were closed in this picture, but this is the best shot we got! It's tough taking pictures with little ones!

 

Above: I always like to get creepy body part gummy candies around Halloween. I also love to play with my food.

 

Above: I influence my children...always for the better, of course.

 

Above: One of the many costume changes that occurred from September to October this year! Peter saw this awesome Batman mask and cape at Walgreen's. We just had to get it. Especially since it paired nicely with some of Peter's previously owned pajamas.

 

Above: Johnny giving me a sweet "thinker" pose on one of our trips to the park.

 

Above: Jonathan loves balls!

 

Above: Isn't he handsome?

 

Above: Jonathan loves swings too.

 

Above: Always giving sweet smiles.

 

Above: My sweet boys always love to play and/or cuddle in my bed. It often doesn't end well though. There's something about being in our bed that just riles these boys up!

 

Above: "Cheeeeeese!"

 

Above: We went to visit Nammy at the Church History Museum where she works as a docent on Tuesday nights. Peter got to put on some gloves and feel the Angel Moroni.

 

Above: The museum currently has a really cute children's portion on one of the upper floors of the museum. Here, Jonathan is going fishing by Nephi's boat.

 

Above: Peter is "riding" a bike just like a missionary would.

 

Above: "Nammy, there sure are a lot of cool things to see here! Thanks for showing us around!"

 

Above: My sweet little guys checking out the fishies.

 

Above: Grandpa threw Nana a surprise birthday party...which somehow got morphed into a joint surprise birthday party for both Grandpa and Nana (I wasn't the one who did that, Dad!). Dad wanted to surprise Rhonda and give her a very special day, which he did. Good job, Dad. It turned out great!

 

Above: On one of our Sunday dinners, the neighbors were barbecuing in their firepit and it got kind of smoky. Someone in the neighborhood called the fire department on them! The fire fighters at first questioned us...and then went to the neighbors when they realized that it wasn't our fire. Then the sweet neighbor lady next door came over later asking what they had done to offend us that would cause US to call the fire department on them! We had to explain that we hadn't been the ones that called the fire department. I hope she believed us! At any rate, the boys had a grand old time checking out the awesome fire truck!

 

Above: Daddy even put Peter on the back of the fire truck and took a picture of it with his phone. I'll have to get that picture and post it later.

 

Above: Fun times!

 

Above: Here we are celebrating Daddy's 33rd birthday. The boys "drew" pictures (yeah, my boys hate to color...I drew a picture, and wrote some messages which the boys decorated with stickers. They hate to color, but they LOVE stickers!).

 

Above: Peter helped decorate Daddy's cake. He put on the "DAD," if you couldn't guess.

 

Above: Singing "Happy Birthday" to Dad and helping him blow out the candles is the best!

There you have it. That was our September. We had some good times, as always. I sure love my sweet family!

August 2012, Part 2

Well, it's a good thing that I blogged the first part of August when I did, because true to form, I have procrastinated the family blog updates again. :)

Here is the rest of August in all of its glory. :)

Above: a visit to Nammy's house is always more fun with Maddie and Kinlie there!

Above: Maddie noticed that Nammy's play set had some bird poop on it, so Nammy got some soapy water and sponges to clean it off. The kids thought it was sooooo much fun to clean.

Above: If only Peter cleaned this happily at home...or cleaned at all!

Above: When we're helping, we're happy and we sing as we go!

Above: The cousins were just having too much fun and Jonathan couldn't help but get in on the fun too.

Above: Uh-oh. I recognize that mischievous look in his eyes!

Above: Peter started getting sassy when he started washing people instead of just toys...

Above: Then Peter started washing himself...and then he turned the whole thing into a water fight...but no one else wanted a water fight, so pretty much what was once sweet, fun, and happy ended in some very sad tears for Kinlie and Jonathan. Care of Peter. Sigh.

Above: On Saturday, August 25th, we went to Lagoon as a family to celebrate reading the Book of Mormon as a family. Our goal was to be in line with the gospel doctrine lessons by August. So, we had to be done with Alma by our Lagoon trip to earn our way in for this family gathering. My very generous Mom treated everyone who reached their goal.

Above: Peter was in HEAVEN. He LOVED Lagoon. His favorite ride was the Bombora roller coaster. Sadly, he was just a little too short for most of the rides that he wanted to go on. So, we'll have to go again next year. He will love it even more!

Above: Going on the water slide (outside of Lagoon-a-Beach). Both Peter and Jeremiah got drenched. Peter didn't mind one bit!

Above: Jonathan didn't want to go on many of the rides. He was content to sit in his stroller. Here he is plugging his ears because of the people screaming on the ride next to us.

Above: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right? After plugging his ears, he decided to scream right along with the people on the ride.

Above: Here we are enjoying lunch while Peter, Nammy, Aunt Emily, Uncle Sean, and Aunt Robin went on Rattlesnake Rapids. Oh, and Jonathan is telling me "what the bunny says" in this picture. And that always makes me happy! 

Above: I realize this is an odd picture. My camera was zoomed in and Peter came running up so fast. I wanted to take a picture of how drenched he got on Rattlesnake Rapids...but because he ran up so fast, his head kind of missed the frame to be in the picture. But look at how wet he got! 

Above: Jonathan had a great time sitting next to his Dad, eating grapes and other such goodies for lunch, and giving his Dad a well-earned pat on the back. What a sweet guy!

Above: Peter wasn't the only one who got drenched. Aunt Emily got her fair share of the Rattlesnake Rapids drenching her clothes as well! We tried to go on the ride again after we finished eating, but the line had gotten ridiculous, so we decided not to.

Above: We enjoyed strolling around Pioneer Village. The village is full of little houses. Some of the houses are shops (candy stores and ice cream shops, etc.), but the rest of the houses are mini museums. So, we got to visit phone museums, train museums, blacksmith shops, a circus/carnival/toy museum, and a carriage museum among others. I always loved Pioneer Village.

Above: Peter would make a great Red Baron.

Above: This was Peter's Red Baron partner-in-crime. They both controlled the plane the same way and it erratically went up and down (like a jittery coffee drinker who is trying to cut out caffeine) the entire time.

Above: Peter can never resist a good merry-go-round.

Above: Jonathan, on the other hand, got super tuckered out and fell asleep while Peter was on the merry-go-round.

Above: So, we took Jonathan out to the van for an air-conditioned nap. I sat with Jonathan and worked on my Relief Society lesson while Jeremiah took Peter to Lagoon-a-Beach.

Above: Hi there! I've planned my lesson and I'm just waiting for Jonathan to wake up! Guess I'll play a little solitaire!  I don't think Jonathan would have woken up unless Jeremiah called me. The phone ringing woke Jonathan up, so we got him dressed in his swimsuit and joined Peter and Jeremiah at Lagoon-a-Beach. But the boys were pretty much spent. We ended up staying another hour at Lagoon and then we headed home. I was surprised that the boys lasted as long as they did. We got there right when they opened at 10 a.m. and didn't leave until about 5 p.m. That's a very full day for these little guys!

Above: The day after our Lagoon day, Jeremiah left for a business trip after church. Peter went through a phase at the age of 2 1/2 or so where he became anti-feetsie-pajamas and refused to wear them. Then suddenly, he decided that he ONLY wanted to wear feetsie pajamas. we tried to squeeze him into his old feetzie pajamas, but they were so tight because he had grown so much. So, we made a trip while Dad was out of town on business and bought Peter some new feetsie pajamas.

Above: As you can tell, Peter was VERY excited about his new pajamas. Jonathan was more than happy to join in on the fun...but I think even he thought this pose of Peter's was over-the-top.

Above: Mom's bed is the best!

Above: Shiver! Can you tell what that is? It's a mouse. Blech! It fell down into our window well and I noticed it while I was playing with the boys in the basement.

Above: The boys thought the mouse was a lot of fun. I was just grateful that it was on the other side of the window...though that still freaked me out.

Above: That blasted mouse ruined our screen for our window by chewing it up to get out.

Above: Here are the boys playing with cars, trains, animals, and dinosaurs...in their feetsie pajamas, of course.

Above: The Smith's Marketplace down the mountain had a great sale, so I got Peter some new clothes (since his old ones were getting ridiculously small). When I asked Peter if he liked his clothes, he excitedly answered "Yes, Mom! I love them! They make me feel like a teenager!"

Above: For our last August trip, we made a morning visit to the Thanksgiving Point gardens (while Jeremiah was still out of town). It was overcast and sprinkled a little. As a result, there weren't many people there and it was a very peaceful morning.

Above: Peter loves the birdhouses there.

Above: Since no one was around, I set up a timer on my camera and took a picture with all three of us.

Above: Here's a close-up, in case you missed Peter's priceless "expression." 

Above: Here's another timed picture of the three of us.

Above: The gardens were just so pretty that day.

Above: The fish were just as hungry as ever. We fed them some corn flakes...but the boys ended up eating most of them because I had left their snacks out in the car and they got hungry. Sorry fishies!

Above: I don't know if you can tell, but some of the fish there are HUGE! This guy was humongous. Look at how big he is compared to the fish around him.

Above: Here is Peter playing "Peter and the Wolf" with me.

Above: I wish he was this meek and mellow at home sometimes!

Above: What a cute guy!

Above: Another cute guy!

Above: Those fountains are just irresistible to my boys.

So, there you have it! The rest of August 2012. We had a great month. It was so much fun to go to Lagoon. I think we're going to make that a family tradition. It helped us all do better on our scripture study and then we got to spend some fun time together as a family! And as for the gardens, I think I'll have to take the boys there for another morning trip next week!

Journal--My First Job

Here's another journal installment based on the writing assignments given to our last ward by our family history coordinator.  These journal posts are mostly for my sake (and the sake of my children who might be interested in their mom's life someday).  However, anyone else who would like to read them is welcome to do so, but don't feel obligated. :)

I didn't have my first official job until the summer before my senior year of high school. Before that, I once helped my Dad by answering phones at his office one Saturday when I was about 14. But nothing official.

I was very excited for my senior year. I had made it into Concert Choir and Madrigals. That meant that I would get to go on two choir tours my senior year--one to Disneyland and one to Oregon. The only problem with this? Money was tight and my Mom couldn't afford to pay for these tours. The combined cost for these tours was going to be around $750.

We had a choir fundraiser to help us earn money. It was to sell pies and pizza. I pulled out our ward roster and called every single name on the list whether I knew them or not. In that way, I was able to earn enough money to pay for my Concert Choir tour. But despite the fact that I tied with my friend, Justin Freeman, in selling the most pizzas and pies and raising the most money, it wasn't enough to cover both tours.

I knew I would need to get a job. But where to start?

It is really difficult to get a job when you have never had one before. My main goal was that I wanted to earn enough money for my tour, but I didn't want to resort to working Sundays in order to do so. This was a hard thing for me. As I mentioned before, it is difficult to get a job when you've never had one before...but it is pretty much IMPOSSIBLE to get a job as a high school student with no job history that doesn't require you to work on Sunday.

I scoured all sorts of possibilities. I sent in applications to every store or establishment that I could think of that was closed on Sundays. Whether due to the fact that these places had a lot of hiring competition, or because I had no job experience, or a combination of the two, I never heard back from any of these places.

I was feeling very frustrated. I had a friend named Josh Adams (who later became my first boyfriend) who was working at a restaurant called Frontier Pies. He told me that they were hiring and that there was a possibility that they might not ask me to work on Sundays. He helped to get me an interview. I still resolved to avoid working on Sundays.

Oh, when I think back to my very first job interview, I want to smack my forehead with my hand and say to myself "How could you be so clueless?"  I was definitely not job hunter savvy at that point in time...and no one really gave me any pointers as to what I should or should not do or what to say or not to say. The only tip I got was to dress up.

It was probably one of the shortest interviews in the history of all mankind. It went like this:

Interviewer: Would you be willing to do anything here?
Me: Yes.
Interviewer: Would you be willing to wash dishes?
Me: No.
Interviewer: Will you be able to work Sundays?
Me: No.
Interviewer: Thank you for your time.

The End.

Ha ha!

It's a lovely glimpse into my teenage mind and logic. When the interviewer asked me if I would be willing to do anything, I had no idea he would ask me to wash dishes. I didn't want to wash dishes. I was caught off guard by his question and simply answered his question honestly. The funniest part about that experience, as I look back on it, is that I honestly left there thinking "I wonder when I'll hear back from them in regards to whether I'll get a job or not." I was that naive. I naturally assumed that I wouldn't have to work as a dishwasher and that I would automatically be hired as a waitress.  After that interview, I still hoped that maybe somehow, they would hire me and not ask me to work on Sundays.

Once reality hit a few days later and I knew that I wasn't getting a call back from them, I honestly felt hopeless. I didn't see how in the world I could get a job that didn't ask me to work Sundays. I decided to fast and pray about it.

A few days after I fasted, I got a call from my friend, David Mendenhall (who would also be in Concert Choir and Madrigals with me for our senior year). He said "I don't know if you're even interested in this, but I have an uncle who needs some part-time help during the summer. A bunch of sample boxes of picture frames were packed wrong and he needs some people to go in and pack them correctly so that the sample boxes can be sent out. It will only be for a few weeks. It will be Monday-Friday until we're done with the job and it will pay about $350."

I sat there speechless for a moment. That was the exact amount of money I still needed to earn for my choir tours. I finally said "Dave, do you realize that you have been an answer to my prayers?" I quickly told him that I would of course take the job.

When I hung up the phone, I just sat there in awe. A few moments before, I felt so hopeless and wondered what I was going to do. Would I have to compromise on my beliefs and goal to not work on Sundays?

I understand that there are plenty of jobs out there where it is necessary for people to work on Sunday: doctors, nurses, firefighters, etc. But I didn't think being a dish-washer or a waitress justified me working on Sundays.

I'm so grateful that the Lord heard and answered my prayers. He knew that it was important for me to keep the Sabbath day holy. In addition to that, it was also a first-hand lesson to me that people can be answers to prayers. When we are in tune with the spirit, the Lord can use us as instruments in His hands to answer the prayers of others...just as my friend, Dave, was an instrument in answering my prayer.

I have never had to work a Sunday in my life (unless you count being a mom--which is a 24/7 job!).  Each time I searched for a job, some opportunity or individual was placed in my life which helped me to earn the money that I needed without having to work on Sundays.

Special Thank You's: I am so grateful for my cousin Chrissy (who helped me get a job at a day care center the following summer--the summer before I went to college) and to my Mom (who helped me get a job at the insurance company where she worked the summer after that). The job that my Mom helped me get (working in the basement of the insurance company as the mail and file clerk for $8 per hour) enabled me to get my foot in the office work world--the Monday-Friday, 8-5 p.m. grind. While many of the filing, data entry, secretarial jobs that this mail/file clerk job lead to were not glamorous (and were often quite boring), they allowed me to earn the money I needed for college without ever having to work on Sunday. Thank you Dave, Chrissy, and Mom for being instruments in the Lord's hands.

Journal--Family Road Trips

One writing assignment given by the family history coordinator in my old ward was to write about family road trips.  So, here goes!

One of the things I love about my Mom is that she is really good at utilizing what she has.  We didn't always have a lot of money, but that didn't stop us from going on trips.  When I was little, I remember going to Disneyland a handful of times with our whole family.  But after my parents got divorced, the trips didn't end...though the locations changed a little.

We didn't have the money to go to Disneyland anymore (though she splurged and probably incurred a little debt too to take us to Florida to see Disneyworld shortly before my brother, Clayton, went on his mission...I'll have to blog about that sometime too), but my Mom recognized the value of family trips and the bonding they brought and the memories that they created for our family.  So, we visited places in Utah.  We went on a family trips to Ogden, Logan, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, etc.

I loved those trips.  I loved that we got to see places in our very own home state that many people who have lived here all their lives have never taken the opportunity to see.  It showed me the value of exploring the world that we live in and not just pining for places that we can't currently afford to see.

I remember looking out on the beauty of Bryce Canyon.  Bryce Canyon really is a breathtaking place. Standing there with visitors from all across the world, I remember hearing a French woman whisper in awe: "C'est magnifique."

I remember hiking through Capitol Reef and being amazed by the beauty of the arches that can be found there.

I remember swimming in the hotel pool up in Ogden.  I was a teenager (and whoa was I a teenager).  I was too embarrassed (and moody) to go swimming in the pool because I needed to shave my armpits and I forgot to bring my razor.  My Mom very patiently and lovingly stopped somewhere and bought a razor for me so that I could join with everyone else in the fun of swimming together as a family.  We got to see all sorts of fun places in Ogden (such as the Train Museum and the Eccles Dinosaur Park that we took our own boys to last year).

On our trip to Logan, we visited Utah State University's campus.  I loved how old it looked and how big the trees were.  It made you feel like you were somewhere in New England.  We drove by the Logan temple and visited the grounds.  We visited the two candy/chocolate shops owned originally by two brothers who couldn't make the business work together, so they ended up competing against each other as businessmen for the rest of their lives.  We drove out to Promontory Point to the Golden Spike National Historic Site (to see where the railway lines of the Union and Central Pacific finally met together on May 10, 1869--joining the entire nation from east to west).

After visiting Promontory Point, we drove out in the hopes of seeing an old ghost town that my Mom had read about.  We drove on a dirt/gravel road for what seemed like forever.  When we finally reached the "ghost town" all that was left of that was an old foundation and maybe a beam or two sticking out of the ground.  It could have been a huge let down for us.  But instead, what I remember was that we spent the drive playing trivia games and having good times together.

On our drive back (away from the "ghost town"), we stumbled upon a section of the Great Salt Lake and we decided to get out to stretch our legs.  It was beautiful.  It seriously felt like something out of a book...it always reminded me a little bit of what I thought Narnia must be like in places.  The rocks near the shore were covered with a layer of salt that made them look pearlescent--like Mother of Pearl.  I don't know what was going on with the water that day...but it was purple.  I don't know if there was some kind of creature (such as plankton, algae, brine shrimp, etc.) in the water that was playing with the refraction of the sun's light to make it that shade of purple.  But I have never seen the Great Salt Lake look like that before or since.  It was beautiful.

Nephi (always a brave one) was the only one to wade into the water.  I don't remember if he was wearing shorts or if he just rolled up his pants, but he waded in and splashed us.

I remember feeling the breeze whipping around the rocks that surrounded the lake and just feeling happy and content.  I felt such comradery with my brothers and sisters.  It really was the perfect day.

It is one of my most vivid memories from any of our road trips.  I'm grateful to my Mom for budgeting in the money and making the time to take us to all of the nooks and crannies of Utah so that we could have those experiences together.