Skeleton House!!

That's what Maura yelled today as we were driving the kids to swim team. She then proceeded to tell me that the houses that are being built and only have the framing up look like the bones of a person, but when they completely finished they look like a person with the skin on.

Now each time we see a house under construction we yell "Skeleton house!".

Watch out for those skeleton houses!!

:0)

Memorial Day

We buried Garrett in Star Valley Wyoming on a beautiful hillside where my sister and her kids could watch over him.  They are so good to go each year and clean up the area and put on flowers and all kinds of things that remind them of Medium G.

This year they bought a cute little ceramic turtle and filled the dish with bubble gum (Garrett's favorite).

I love that we still have this tradition with our kids.  We say: "I love you more than _______."  It's usually pancakes, or pillows, or flowers or something, but if you are REALLY serious then the one you just can't trump is "I love you more than space!".  Because, you know, space goes on forever!

Garrett is buried right next to my mom.

Thank you for remembering for us!

Sidewalk Paint!

Best.  project. ever.

Simple, can make it with items you have in your kitchen, water soluble, edible, truly amazing!

1 cup cornstarch

1 cup water (I added a little more water as the day went on and it worked just fine)

food coloring

It was good for HOURS of fun!

Love how this one uses her tongue when she concentrates.

Day #2 we just added a little water to the dried out cups and revived the paint!  It was a little less bright than the day before, but they still got creative!  This time, body paint!

A hose and a quick rinse and everything was back to normal.

Have I said I love this idea???
Next we're going to put the 'paint' in balloons and do a little Jackson Pollock!

The last day of school...

Last Thursday Maura 'graduated' from her preschool class.  They didn't really do a graduation, just a parent day with songs and treats.

 Maura and Ry.  Maura is showing off her book of remembrance from school.  Her teacher was amazing!  I can't say enough good about her! She took pictures of activities all year long and put them in a simple photo book for Maura to keep.  If you are looking for a great preschool, I know one!

 These three little girls were great friends this year!  Tommi, Mookster, and Ry

It's barely the end of May and we have logged a lot of pool time!

I love that my kids enjoy being in the pool (even though it is smaller than they would like) and they love inviting their friends.

 What a ham!

She is a really great swimmer!  She can dive to the bottom to get coins and swim all the way across the pool.

Seriously, the goggles SLAY me!

Impetigo anyone?

Evidently Maura didn't have as much fun this last week as Dallin and I had.  She got to hang out with her daddy for the time we were gone and he noticed a rash under her arm...well it got a little worse than just a rash.  Luckily I have some anti-bacterial cream and it is clearing up nicely.

 She says it itches and we've really worked hard at keeping her from scratching.  It's pretty contagious, but from what I've read, once you've started the anti-bacterial cream for 24 hours it is not so much...that's what I've read, but we have been washing sheets and clothes and towels and such.  It really doesn't seem to bother her until we put the medicine on it!

 This is her sad face.

 At least we didn't get the hand-foot-and-mouth disease or chicken pox that has been going around! (knock on wood!!!)

Haigler Creek camping!

Each year (well, the two we've been at the school) we end the year with a camping trip.  I was a chaperone last year and elbowed my way into the group again! I love it! It was so much fun!  These kids are super!

This year we had a Hogwarts theme.  We were divided into houses for chores and activities.  We were the "Gryffindor" House.  At each gathering we had a yell:

We belong to Gryffindor,

where dwell the brave of heart.

Our daring, nerve, and chivalry

set Gryffindor apart!

This is the entire group:

 We played a lot of "Minute to Win-it" games!  Jeff wrapping Dallin with an ENTIRE roll of toilet paper.

 We went to the swimming hole and jumped off a bunch of rocks into the water (when I say 'we' I mean 'they').

 Jeff Jumped 41 times!!

 Getting ready...

 Go!

 The zip line is always a favorite.  Jeff tried to catch it on video...we'll see how that turns out.

 Mostly the kids just loved playing together.  They played ping-pong, air hockey, board games, kick-ball, and they came up with their own version of "Halo".  They ran around and pretended to shoot each other and hide and strategize...I guess it's their version of "Cowboys and Indians".

I really loved seeing the kids work together to make meals and clean up and help each other.   The food committee planned and bought all the food, and I could totally tell that Jeff was on that committee! We ate his favorite meals: Tacos, chili dogs, breakfast burritos, pancakes, and sloppy joes.

I'm so glad they did this again!

The Pool!

FINALLY we put up the pool!  I told the kids we wouldn't do it until May 1st, so that weekend we did it!

There was a little repair work to do, but it's up and functioning.

We LOVE having friends come and swim with us! We are so lucky to have neighbors who love to swim as much as we do!

 Maura is a little fish! I thought it would take her a while before she got the hang of it again, but boy was I wrong!  She jumped right in and swam to the other side.

 She hangs in there with the big boys!

I'm sure there will be many more pool pictures this summer!!

Mother's Day

I had a really great day.  Mostly because I have really terrific kids.

I wish I had some awe inspiring words to write, or a touching ode to Motherhood...sadly, I do not.  All I can say is I'm so lucky that I get to be a mom! 

It's my FAVORITE job.  I would rather be a mom than do anything else.

The Mookster wanted to pose with the gift she gave me.  I love this little one!

 A cute hand-print card and flower pens in a pot she made! So lovely!

 Dallin made corsages for me to wear!  I love both of them, and the yogurt pretzels he gave me too!

 My three little people all put together thanks to a great friend!

It was a Mother's day to remember!

Little M had a dance recital last weekend and she loved it!

I was a little worried when we went to the rehearsal because she got scared of the stage and didn't want to go up.  I had to peel her off my leg and force her to join her little group to go up and practice.  Once she was up there she elbowed her way onto center stage.  When it was all done and the group was asked to go sit down she was super upset.  "MOM!  It's not long enough!  I want to do more!!"  Ha.  Got over that stage fright pretty easily!

http://youtu.be/ra90Cachw3U

The day of the performance there were easily 4X the number of people and she didn't bat an eye.  Actually she went out on stage AHEAD of time with another group and didn't realize she was in the wrong place until the music started.  She ran off the stage and got embarrassed about it, but still came back on and did her dance.

Now anytime we mention her coming on at the wrong time she cries and gets so upset and embarrassed!

I love that she enjoys performing! I suspected she would...she's all about wearing  makeup and the costume and looking pretty for people.

Since the recital she asks EVERY DAY if she can wear mascara (yes she says it correctly).  "Mom, just today I want to wear mascara. I know that I'm not a big mom yet, but still I can wear mascara and not other makeup just mascara."  She's constantly negotiating! I sure wish she would stop growing up so fast!

Have I mentioned my dad lives in Wyoming? At the base of the Tetons? 10 miles from Yellowstone?  Yeah, that's where he lives, it's a hard life (HUGE eye roll).   Today he's COMPLAINING about having to chase elk out of his front yard.  Um, yeah, really feel for you.  Hard life you've got there...

One of these things is not like the other...

I find it ironic that he spent most of his career hiking through the mountains trying to FIND the elk...now he worries about shooing them out of his field.

Really, I am so happy for him.  He lives in such a great place and he loves it and it's the perfect thing for him to be doing. I especially love that we can go visit him any time and see those pesky elk and stare at those beautiful mountains and enjoy such a wonderful place!

Happy Birthday to me!

I found this great display on my lawn Friday morning...someone stayed up awfully late to be able to put it on my lawn without me knowing!(hee hee)

 I especially appreciated the sign that says "Aged to Perfection". I never knew what age was the perfect age.  I guess now I do!

Someone asked me "Who died?".  I guess it looks like those death shrines that pop up all over highways across Mexico and the Southwest. So, if you wondered, nope not dead just old!

Thanks, friends! I sure feel loved!

Awwww, that's so nice...a celebration in my honor!

Happy Birthday to me!

Disney's 'Brave' new Princess Merida...

or is it Maura?

The similarities are uncanny! Especially the expression!

Awesome!

It's been four years today since my little guy left this earth.  He's been gone almost as long as we were together.  I miss him a lot.

I think about him often and today I spent some time going through old photographs and remembering.

Garrett was really good baby.

Love that little smile! He had a giant head!  Good thing he grew into it!

 

We spent a fun summer at the beach in Carpinteria when he was just a little guy.  Thank heavens for a blow up pool that kept him (mostly) out of the sand!

 As soon as he was old enough we did swimming lessons.  He loved it. 

 Even when we went to Wyoming to spend some time we always did swimming lessons there too!  Sadly, he was the 'bad kid' in the class.  He was so enamored with the goggles the teacher had him wear that he didn't want to take his head out of the water and he missed most of the instructions.  He made up for it at the end of each lesson when he would wave to his teacher and yell "I love you, teacher!!".

He was always my little helper.  He LOVED to help do anything. I have good memories of shopping and cleaning and doing projects with him.

 

Ward campout and a super cool pinata.  After they smashed it and gathered all the candy, my boys wanted to bring home the pieces of the pinata because they thought it was super cool!

 His "I love you" handshape that he couldn't ever get exactly right... he always did the "hang loose" handshape. (At the splash pad in Tempe with Jennifer and her kids.)

He loved to be outside and do boy things.  We did a lot of fun things together and I'm so glad I took them a lot of places.  This is a picture of us on the top of a small hill at Usury Park. We did a little hike with a bunch of friends one day.  Garrett is holding his hair out of his eyes...his hair was something else!  It was super fine like mine, blonde and very straight.  It would grow fast and it always seemed to be in his eyes.

 This picture makes me happy and sad.  I love that he was such a good brother to Maura.  He was always taking care of her and helping with her. I love the expression on Maura's face!  She looks so annoyed with him!   Maura was only 6 months old when Garrett died and although she knows who he is and we talk about him a lot, it makes me sad that her only memories of him are from pictures.

 

 Today is a good day to remember such a neat little guy.