Macy's reading spot

Macy's new favorite place to read is the toilet. I will walk by the bathroom and there she is with her pants to her knees and a book in hand. She wants to be just like her dad. Okay she wants to be like mom too, but I don't take reading material in there because I plan on being in there a long time. I take it because this is a place where people don't bother me. My kids sometimes get the nerve to do this but I can always shut the door when they come.

Popcorn Popping

Spring is just around the corner. I know that some of you may be questioning that with storms on the horizon, but I promise it is coming. This is our peach tree we planted last year and the blossoms are popping out. It makes me smile to see them. I love to see flowers in bloom. I am not quite the gardner I hope to be, nor is my yard the garden I would love to have. We are both a work in progress. In fact today I was able to get outside and plant a couple of petunias and a tomato plant. It felt great to be outside. I was then so excited that I had to look over my plans for my new vegetable garden and decide where I want to put new flowers in the flower beds. I plan on finishing my planting after my trip so my in-laws don't have to worry about new plants (however Brian's dad would probably do a better job than me).

A little update from last week. Last Wednesday I was in charge of the combined YW/YM activity. The laurels and I decided that a murder mystery party would be fun. It turned out to be a great choice. We found a clean version on the internet called "Horror at Homecoming". We had to split into 4 different parties because of the number of youth (we have about 70) so I didn't get to see how it all ran. I was a little nervous about pulling this off because of our size and you never know how youth will respond. Overall I heard good things about it.

Friday night was my turn to plan the date night. We tried a new restaurant called Cantina Laredo. I was okay, but not spectacular. It was classified as "gourmet mexican". They use gourment because of the uniqueness of the ingredients. For example I had an enchilada with spinach, chicken and some cheese I never heard of. After dinner we went to the local recreation center for a little ping-pong, pool and arcade games. We would have done the rock climbing wall but we wore the wrong shoes.

Saturday was our stake RS day. I went for the early bird special on food storage. I guess I am going to have to switch my emphasis to the 3 month supply. That is the new push. Most of the women gave the suggestion to come up with specific meals, figure out how many times you want to eat them during a 3 month time frame, figure out all the ingredients you will need including quantities and then start buying. I might have to wait to get myself organized. I just barely got myself organized in my long term storage buying. Is this just to keep us busy and on our toes? The rest of the day was also good. They set it up as sort of a mini-education week (I am assuming this because I have never been to education week). The classes I went to were marvelous and even though I wasn't sure about going I am glad I went.

My Current Obsessions

This has taken me a while to get to, but I finally did it.

Currently...

My favorite indulgence: reading a good book, I have read 3 books in the past month

My favorite guilty pleasure: eating anything sweet, especially chocolate, when my kids and Brian are not around. Maybe this is one of the reason I love naptime.

Hoping for: a good tax refund and some way to come up with a lot of money so I can spend it on all of my wants instead of always saying "do I want this more or this more"

My favorite songs: I don't have any, but my favorite genres are classic rock, 80s & 90s, and country. All the stuff I can sing to.

Getting used to: taking out my contacts every night. I have worn contacts since 8th grade and I have just now been convinced of the necessity of removing them nightly even if they are extended wear. This is a pain by the way, but I am trying to be healthier.

Currently behind on: scrapbooks, picture DVDs (I haven't finished 2006 and now 2007 is over with), emails, painting the girls's dresser

Current redesign project: this is why I am behind, I don't have anything specific. There are only millions of ideas in my head

Currently OCD about: having my house in order, which is rarely the case so I must not be too OCD.

Currently a regular viewer of: Matlock (every morning when I run), Law & Order (not as good as the old ones, but I keep watching because they have to get better.

Currently Reading: nothing right now, but I think I am going to Emma to read again on my trip. I also need to pick of East of Eden for my book club.

Currently planning and preparing for: Maui, Hawaii

Currently anxious for: Maui, Hawaii and the California beach this summer

If you would like tell what your current obsessions are.

To my wonderful friends and family

Thank you for making my birthday so special. I had numerous phone calls, friendly visits, a birthday lunch, brownies, emails, fortune cookies, fun gifts, and flowers. It completely surpassed my expectations and I thank you all. It makes me want to do a better job of wishing people Happy Birthday. My one stumbling block is the forgetful gene passed down from my Grandma Bonnie. I am working on ways to overcome this but you all were beautiful examples of Christlike love. I love you all and you really did make my day bright and wonderful.

This is why I live here

Ahhh! Now I remember why I like living here. The weather has been gorgeous. Today the girls wanted to go out and ride their bikes. I was going to read a book, but when I got out there I had to spend some time in the yard. The weather was to beautiful. I pruned back some of my plants even though the nursery said to wait another week and a half. I just hope we don't get an unexpected freeze. I looked at the extended forecast and I think I am safe. I would try to lay out tomorrow but I don't want a farmer tan for Hawaii and if my kids see me in a swimsuit they would expect to go swimming. To bad they don't nap anymore.

I am not sure what to think, but right now my kids are watching the Malibu boat informational DVD. They watched it on Sunday with their dad. They asked to watch it last night and again this is what they chose today. It is funny to see them glued to the TV basically watching a commercial with boats, wakeboarding and waterskiing.

Birthday Celebration

One last post for awhile. It looks like it this week is going to be busy.

Yesterday Brian started my birthday celebration. My birthday is really on Monday, but he has some make-up softball games that night. In a state that is in a drought, he has had 3 weeks cancelled because of rain. Anyways, he took care of the kids while I planned the next YW activity and my lesson for today. He told me that if I hadn't of procrastinated I could have done something fun. He had the girls help him make cupcakes for me. He took care of dinner for the evening. Because of the leadership training meeting he had to do take-out. He thought about getting my favorites from several different restaurants, but that is when he realized that all of my favorites at places were desserts, ie Cold Stone, Ghiradelli Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory, the molten lava cake from Chili's (I believe), drunken apples from Famous Daves, etc. So he settled on BBQ from Joe's and drunken apples from Famous Daves. I am sure he would have had me open my presents, but I already did that. He bought me a compact mixer from Bosch. I picked it out and found it on the internet. It is the size as a kitchen aid but supposedly a lot more powerful. I just had to use it when it came. He wasn't thrilled when he found out. I also opened the gift my sister when it arrived. It was a new cookbook that I am excited for.

For my birthday date we went to the drive-in to see Fool's Gold. The weather has turned nice here. In fact it was perfect drive-in weather, 67 degrees. We would have stayed for I am Legend but we have early church. He did a great job of making me feel special. I told him he didn't need to do much because we are on our way to Maui in 2 weeks, but he managed to do something.

I guess I need to think of ideas for Valentine's. Anyone have any suggestions. I am really terrible at stuff like this.

Love/Hate relationship

Friday night the family went to the convention center for the annual boat show. This event has turned into a love/hate relationship.

I love it because my kids love boats so much. I love to look at the new boats. I love to sit in the new boats. The Phoenix boat show is empty compared to the Utah boat show. There are no crowds so the boat rep. are usually completely yours and it is not a hassle to take strollers and there is not a huge worry about losing your children in the throngs of people. Because of the lack of crowds we can see most of the dealers in about 2.5 hours instead of 8 hours.

I have grown to hate the boat show because I never know what is going on in Brian's mind. The first year we were married we went to the boat show with Brian's cousin and they almost traded in their boat for a new one. We were in the little room going over the paperwork and finances. When it came to the down payment (which was more than what was previously understood) I had to put my foot down to using the money allotted to the down payment for our house. I have also come to hate it because boat prices have skyrocketed. One of the Supras was advertised at around $56,000 and a monthly payment of $400. In small print that was with a 7.5% interest rate and over 20 years. You don't even want to know what the Mastercrafts were priced at. I stopped looking after that. I also hate the show because last year we were somewhat seriously looking into a boat at boat show time. We looked for a few more months, but I said to wait until next year because we really need to get a vehicle to pull it at the same time. Well a year has passed and bonuses are not what they used to be and the housing industry is a little unstable, so there is to be no boat this year either. In fact, I am trying to come to grips with the idea that it might be another 3-5 years before we can seriously consider the idea. Don't worry. I am sure Brian will continually entertain the idea in his mind. The last reason I hate the boat show is because it makes me lust after things of the world instead of focusing on the things that are eternal. Do you think there will be water skiing in heaven?

By the way, my two little boat lovers were in and out of the boats all night long. Macy would drive and crank up the music. She wanted a purple (like Chad's boat) and pink. Kelsey wanted a pink boat. That is our excuse for not buying one. They don't make them in pink. Macy also found a little pink wakeboard that she wanted.

Funny things they say

Macy's new phrase when ever she drinks something. "Mmmm. Rummm punch." (from Mary Poppins) I bet people are wondering what is in her cup.

What Macy has learned in church last week.
Me: What did you learn about today?
Macy: Three Heavenly Fathers.
Me: Oh did you learn that Heavenly Father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are three seperate beings.
Macy: No. There are three Heavenly Fathers and one Jesus.

What she learned this week.
Right after church
Me: (looking at her picture) Oh is Jesus your friend.
Macy: No. Heavenly Father is.
Me: Is Jesus your friend too?
Macy: No, just Heavenly Father.

Later on today
Me: So what did you learn about in class?
Macy: biting. The big tall lady used to bite.
Me: Didn't you learn about Jesus being a friend?
Macy: No. Heavenly Father is my friend.

Brian and I were pushing the girls in seperate strollers down the street. No one had spoken for a bit. And then ...
Macy: Kelsey do you want your jacket?
Kelsey: Um, no.
More silence. Brian and I started laughing because it sounded like a first date situation.

Kelsey teaches Macy a new trick

Kelsey shows Macy her new trick and says "see". Macy then asks me to help her and then she asks Kelsey for help. Being the good-natured sister, Kelsey says "okay". The best part was the scream at the end, but my camera wouldn't download it to the computer.

This was the second attempt. Macy tells Kelsey she's scared. Again the scream is missing and added so much. After a couple more tries Macy did learn the new trick.

Whys and whats

Tonight the girls and I were playing rough housing a little (For my family: we were doing "do-do, do-do"). Kelsey had a bit of undigestive food come back up. As a grabbed a towel to clean up the small pools, the girls had to see and analyze it. When I told Macy what it was she looked again and said, "I think it is punch."
I replied back, "I think it might be conversation hearts."
Macy leaned in closer and said, "Yea, that's what it is. Hearts."

We are into the why and what is it stage. She is very curious and is trying to figure things out. Many of these items are tough to explain because the words I want to use she doesn't understand yet and leads to another question. Some of the most difficult questions have to do with stories. It is taking a lot longer to read short stories because she tries to figure out what is going on in the picture and why characters are feeling the way they do. Lately her favorite movie is the Lion King, but this is bringing up difficult to define situations like death. She wants to know why Simba is sad and what is wrong with Mufasa. It is a good thing we have seen the movie before otherwise we might get frustrated with the constant commentary.

Heaven help me

I love my daughter Macy, but she can be so difficult. Today I was using the scissors outside. I set them down on the table while I put something away in the shed. I warned her to leave the scissors alone. I had my back turned for 2 minutes. Well she cut some more hair. I found the scissors and the hair in her hand. She hasn't really told me who's hair got a trim this time. Sometimes she says it was Kelsey's and other times it is hers.

I had to lay down the law because she just isn't getting it. We had already told the girls that we were going to Cold Stone so her punishment was no ice cream. We have done this before but the rest of us were punished because we all didn't get to go. This time I wanted her to really understand so we all went and we all got ice cream except for her. Brian and I were hesitant at first because she can throw some pretty good tantrums, but then she yelled at me for something and I realized that this girls needs to know we are serious.

This was the most difficult thing. She was so good at Cold Stone. I was afraid we would have to leave, but she was very dignified the entire time. She kept trying to convince Kelsey to save her ice cream for tomorrow so they could both eat it. But we all know Kelsey is not the saver of the family. Macy then fed Kelsey her ice cream without sneaking a bite. She sat quietly and stared at my ice cream longing for a bite but was not going to ask. I so wanted to give her a bite because she was being so good about the whole situation. She was very pleasant. I then started to realize that she was being stubborn and trying to outsmart us. I think she decided to show us that the ice cream didn't matter to her. She told Brian she didn't want any. She said it was gross. Towards the end she started making up stories about what happened this afternoon. It included Kelsey using the scissors first then she cut both hers and Kelsey's hair. Each version was slightly different. She was trying to get herself off the hook. In the end I don't think this is going to stop her from using the scissors or disobeying. She inherited every bit of stubborness that Brian and I have and she thinks she is the boss. Being strong, loving and consistent with discipline is so hard.

Tonight getting ready for bed she threw tantrums over small things (it was what I was expecting at Cold Stone). I stuck to the consequences for her choices and she was not a happy camper. I keep hoping one day she will figure out obedience and that her parents will never lead her astray. At least she is helping me to learn patience and how to discipline out of love and not anger. One day we will both figure things out and come out better people for it. Hopefully we can be friends afterwards too.

Lions, Tigers and Bears

Yesterday the girls and I joined some friends at the zoo. I brought along our camera, but being such a good photographer I didn't take any pictures. Good thing there really weren't any Kodak moments.

This was the first time Macy was okay with seeing the animals. In fact, she ran to different exhibits and looked through glass trying to find the different animals. We only had one incident of "Ewww! Something stinks." We were at the wart hogs looking for Pumba from Lion King.

If you ask Macy about her favorite part she might say the carousel. She is more of a ride type of gal. Her and Kelsey keep talking about rides so Disneyland might be in the future again.

On the way home the girls feel asleep in the car. I was quite jealous. Pushing them around in the stroller must have tired worn me out. There seemed to be no hope for a nap because the minute I pulled them from the carseats they would be up. Then I remembered how Brian used to sometimes find his dad napping in the car in the garage after work. His dad had real early hours and would stay up late and so would be too tired to make it inside to the bed. So I pulled into the garage, shut the door, cracked the windows and reclined my seat. It was great. I couldn't believe I got a 40 minute nap in. My justifications for the nap were I was worn out, the kids needed more than a 30 minute nap, and I had a play that night and didn't want to fall asleep during it.

The play was wonderful. We have season tickets to Hale theater again. Last night's play was Cash on Delivery. It was so funny. I was laughing so hard. One of the ladies behind us exclaimed "I am going to wet my pants if I laugh any more." It was about a man who was trying to cover up his fraudulant claims to England's social security. The plot was kind of like Abott and Castello's "Who's on first?" The actors and director did a wonderful job pulling off this story. In fact the actors were stupendous. It was long for a non-musical. It was 3 hours long. I only noticed because we told our babysitter we would be home by 10 PM, but the play went until 10:30 PM. If a theater near you is producing this play, go. It should be worth it.

Events of the week

Like I mentioned previously, nothing exciting has taken place this week. I made a 2nd attempt at bread. I took the tips given to me from my cousin, Melinda and tweeked a couple recipes and whola! I much better loaf. However, I think my hand mixer is about to quit on me. Good thing I am using my birthday money towards a stand mixer. And by the way, I like white wheat better than red. It creates bread closer to white bread.

I made bread again because I didn't want to have to go to the grocery store this week. Well I still wound up making a trip to Fry's and Costco. I ran out of eggs and milk and the fridge was pretty bare. Where does all the food go? I only have 2 small children. I can't imagine what happens when there are more and they are older.

My wonderful visiting teachers stopped by this week. I love to chat with Lacey and Amber. I can be quite the talker sometimes so it is nice to have people to listen to me during the day. Macy doesn't really like to listen to me. She is already to old for that.

Speaking of Macy. Last night they were playing instead of sleeping. Brian went into the room and threatened to split them up. Macy then asked "What is split up?" So he tried to explain it another way. He told them that someone would have to sleep in the play room. Well the smart thing that she is asked "Where will we sleep in there? There is no bed." He was amazed at her perception and the way she twisted the situation in her favor. He just said we will figure out a way so go to bed or else.

Below is a picture of the girls in the doll crib. This is Kelsey's favorite place. Often she packs a blanket, pillow and her Cinderella doll with her. Macy had to hope in this time because a picture was being taken. When the girls are playing often Kelsey is made to be the baby so the others put her to bed in her. Forget the dolls when you can have a real baby is what Macy thinks. Kelsey also gets pushed around the house in the doll stroller. I want to tell them that she is toddler but she enjoys being taken care of.

Pictures

Nothing exciting has been happening around our house this week. I know, a shocker. I promised pictures so I figure that is exciting.
2 Sundays ago we took the girls to a small airport to watch planes. These girls love planes and jets.
Here they are doing some core training while watching TV. It reminds me of the trainers at the gym. They all sit on big balls (the name of them has slipped my mind) instead of chairs. I know why the gym people do this but it still seems funny to me because if you don't have good posture you lose some of the benefit.
Here is the infamous haircut. Kelsey doesn't want her picture taken. I couldn't get a good shot of the right side by her ear.
Another angle.
Here she is trying to hide from the camera. She is either embarrassed or extremely tired making her grouchy.