Super Hero

Evan woke me up EARLY (6:30 AM!!) on Father's Day.  He was so excited to make breakfast in bed for his Dad.  I scooted over, making space for him to crawl in next to me in bed and groggily told him it was WAY to early and that it would be best to wait a awhile... you know, let DAD sleep in a bit :)  I rolled over and konked right out again but I know he laid there bright eyed, anticipating... so excited for the day!!  That is my Evan.  About an hour later I felt him shaking me and he once again asked me if it was time yet- to start on Dad's breakfast?  I knew the littles would be waking soon anyway and I didn't have the heart to make Evan wait any longer.  So we headed down to the kitchen and put on our aprons... breakfast is one of Glen's favorite meals.  I don't mean the kind of boring breakfast that he eats every morning, like cereal or toast.  I am talking about the kind of breakfast that really should be eaten for dinner... you know "the works"  -bacon, eggs, sausage, french toast, pancakes, fruit...  Glen likes all breakfast foods and one of his favorites is a breakfast sandwich!  Evan did a great job getting everything "just right" down to the details of OJ on ice with a bendy straw!  I should mention that the night before we stayed up pretty late getting our Father's Day present all ready.  Eli decided that he would opt out of the breakfast preparation in the morning- the kid really loves his sleep- so he was snoring away while Evan and I whipped it all together!  Eli came sleepily up the stairs at the last minute- just as Evan was heading up to deliver the spread.  Glen of course was beaming and raved about his breakfast in bed all day!

When we got home from church the boys could hardly wait to present their dad with his very own Super Hero supply box....

He is a Super Hero, you know?

Their Dad.

and Super Hero's need potions and vitamins...supplies,  to keep them going....

The box included things lilke, MINTS (freshens breath 4 out of 5 damsels in distress agree) X-RAY VISION DROPS (find the bomb in half the time) HERO VITAMIN PELLETS (proven effective in conquering villains 98% of the time) and ENERGY CHIPS (leap buildings in a single bound or your money back) and the box also included a new super hero T-shirt- (a spare in case he's ever in a bind) as well as the DVD four pack of the original Superman movies.  (every Super Hero needs to brush up on the competition, right?)

the boys made some cards for their Dad... er... I mean... the Super Hero.

this one is from Gabe

Evan put together this little comic book...

And this one is from Eli....

 Not only is this guy their Super Hero- he is mine too... always coming to the rescue and saving the day.  He really is a SUPER dad and I am not even kidding when I say that I am in love with him!
Happy Father's Day to our very own Super Hero!

Red, White and Blue...

  We had a festive weekend filled with family, fireworks, BBQ's, sunshine, swimming,, parades and celebrating Freedom!  

Happy Independence Day!

Easter Week

A few years ago we started a new Easter tradition that my sister Sara found and shared with me. " A Christ Centered Easter" is a book written by Joe and Janet Hales and it has a great forward about the importance of Easter and reflecting on the life of the Savior- His final week, and his greatest gift of Love- the atonement and then the resurrection.   The book has ideas for families with children of all ages of ways to learn and celebrate the resurrection through mini lessons, activities and stories.  I love this book and I love having this tradition for our family.  During the week leading up to Easter we take a minute each day - doing activities, reading scriptures, learning and trying to live like the Savior did.  We started the week by putting out a jar that we planned to "fill" with acts of service and love.

We watched all week for ways that we were serving each other- when we saw a good deed or someone showing love we wrote about it on a strip of paper and placed it into a plastic egg- filling our jar.  At the end of the week we left the jar full of eggs out for the Easter bunny to hide and then we took time on Easter Sunday to read about all the service that we had been up to all week.  Evan, Eli and Gabe loved to be on the lookout during the week and tried extra hard to give lots of service so that we can fill the jar.  The good deeds and service that we did brought  so much love into our home and really made the week fun!

Another thing that we did towards the beginning of the week when we talked about the life of the Savior was to list His attributes and then as a family we picked one attribute of the Savior that we wanted to try to emulate that week.  This year  we chose to try be unselfish.  We made a poster to display in the kitchen to remind us of our goal through out the week.

We read about the Saviors last week... His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the last supper and Gethsemane.  we talked about the importance of those last days before He was crucified,  His teachings and His perfect love.  One evening we made bird nests and talked about Spring time and all the new life that comes with Spring.  We compared that to the re birth that we can have through repentance because of the atonement

On Saturday evening the boys all slept together upstairs in Gabe's room.  Then Sunday morning they all came into our room and climbed in bed with us.  They were so excited to see if the Easter bunny had come but we took a minute first as we laid there to talk about that first Easter morning when the stone was rolled away from the tomb and what it must have been like for Mary Magdalene to see the resurrected Savior. It was such a great week and a pretty special way to start our Easter Sunday and General Conference weekend.

Old news...

My little sister Julie came back in March.  she was here in February (from NY) as well as my other sister Sara.  we had such a great time together and it is always hard to see them go... Always!  I love my sisters, they are my best friends!  although hard to see them go I knew that Julie would be returning in just a few weeks (she was here the end of March) and I knew that Sara had a move and a new house to get to and we were all excited for her.  Julie's husband who is a doctor in his residency had a week off of work and so they decided to come to Utah and spend some time with family and friends and to bless their new baby Frances.

While they were here we had a great time.  I love being able to load my 'littles' into the car first thing in the morning still in their pajamas and head over to my mom's house, getting in as many minutes with each other as possible.  Gabe and Ruby are the best of friends and it is so nice for them to have a play mate! For me there is not much better than having a permanent friend to run errands with, sip a diet coke with, shop with, stay up late talking with... I have only had a few friends who I've had "the total connection" with-- like a sister... it's hard to find.  I know there are lots of sisters who are not close like we are... and I really just feel for sisters who struggle... and I count myself very lucky!.... blah blah blah.... rambling, I know!  So anyway  here are some of the things that we did while they were here

Eli and I went down to Ogden to pick up his new glasses... that's right, he is wearing glasses!  Looks like so far my boys have inherited my poor vision!  Eli's glasses are very cool (one pair is orange and blue-funky and the other pair is more serious and preppy) He looks very handsome in them and his teeth are finally starting to grow in after many months of having no teeth it will be fun to see his new grown up- permanent tooth grin!    While we were in Ogden we met Julie and family and brought them to Logan with us for the weekend with plans for them to return to Heber for the first part of the following week.  They came to Logan for a quick trip over the weekend to see our cousin Tate.  Tate left to be a missionary in the West Indies on Wednesday March 24th.  He gave a great talk the Sunday before he left.  It was about service.  We were all able to go listen to him and and it was nice to hear his testimony

I really appreciate his example to all of my future missionaries :)  He will be a great missionary!  My mom hosted a a little open house for him after sacrament meeting (brunch) at her house. 

Towards the end of the week (Wednesday evening) Julie returned and we took the kids to see the babies at IFA the next morning... Baby bunnies, chicks and ducks. Who says you need to pay 50 dollars to attend baby animal day at the Western Heritage Farm- We figured we'd go to IFA for free!  Well, truth be told- it was pretty gross.  All these baby chicks were crammed into these warm metal boxes with lids.  Try as I might, I just DO NOT love animals what kind of a person doesn't like animals??  seriously... I like to think that I have a pretty big heart but there is not much  room in it for animals....I just can't make myself!  Usually baby animals soften my heart but these babies were oh. so. STINKY!  and the lid contained it all but as we lifted the lids to see them the smell hit like a million wet diapers mixed with sawdust, decaying vegetables and death.  The kind of stink that hits you like a ton of bricks and makes you give yourself whip lash.... ok maybe I am exaggerating a little, but the thing that topped it off was that as we looked a little more closely... Yes, we did look closely because hello... we had children with us who were SO excited and who LOVE baby animals and so although I hated to open my mouth for fear of inhaling the toxic smell... I whispered "oh look how cute."  (They were sort of cute and cuddly ... it was just the smell...) and I held Gabe up to see etc... and as we looked more closely we noticed that a few of the chicks were half dead ... just laying there while all the others went about doing normal chick stuff and I can't stand to see something suffering... mouth breathing, eyes glazed... it was just gross and sad. (see I do have a big heart) ... sorry about all the gore... hopefully the picture below makes up for it... cute and cuddly with no accompanying smell...

The bunnies and the ducks however were not as stinky and they are so adorable... my stomach was doing flip flops so I didn't enjoy them fully and least none of them were half dead.... yet

I was pretty freaked out by the chick encounter and so was Julie so we made grandpa catch a duck to show Ruby and Gabe...

All in all... the kids LOVED seeing the baby animals... pretty sure we won't do it again though...unless we are equipt with gas masks... baby animal day we're heading your way next year!

We had plans to have our annual Family Easter party... bon fire and egg hunt that night and then the weather took a turn for the worse and we considered re scheduling but decided to make it work.  The original plan was to have the party outside but with inclement weather I had to do a quick scramble to to get my house clean and move things indoors.  About an hour before we were going to start the party the clouds broke and the wind stopped.  It was cold but we were able to have a fire and Easter egg hunt outside... It was perfect!

My grandpa was not feeling very well and he gets cold so easily. (side effect of chemo)  But he didn't want  to miss out so he and my grandma came and parked their car in front of the barn, out by the fire pit.  We all took turns sitting in the backseat and visiting with them.   They stayed cozy in the car, were able to watch the kids on the hunt and didn't miss out on the fun!  It worked out perfectly!

On Friday we had our ward Talent Show... Yes, we are still doing activities for our ward.  It is a little much since I am in the primary presidency (seriously) but luckily Glen is... well you know... he is amazing and pretty much pulled off the entire thing with the help of a few people on our committee.  The party was a huge success... lots of variety in talents.  Kids, adults and teens... did performances and had talents on display.  The one big hit was a concession stand all decked out with a sign and bulb lights.  We had the people working in the concessions wear red hats and aprons and they were giving out licorice, bags of popcorn and root beer.  it looked amazing and in my opinion "made the night." I am telling you, these things are all about the atmosphere!  doing a little extra makes all the difference. Glen was a great organizer and MC too!  oh and my mom saved us by keeping the littles, feeding them, bathing them... and she had Julie's two girls too-

she is the best!

Saturday the 27th we met at the church around noon for the blessing of Frances Susan Williams.

  It was such a special day!  Francie looked like a little china doll... all dressed up in a big fancy dress.  She is a beautiful baby girl!  dark red hair, bright blue eyes... tiny little features, one of those pretty babies!

After her blessing Julie invited everyone to stay and celebrate Frances' new little life.  We had a delicious lunch and enjoyed just being together.

My super talented (and beautiful, kind, funny... pretty much perfect) friend Marcie made her signature 'baby kakes" for me to surprise Julie with!

She made these cake ball babies to resemble Francie and they were hilarious and adorable at the same time.  Almost too cute to eat and then when you sink your teeth in... they are like a little piece of heaven...

To. Die. For. moist, fluffy little morsels... and you should see her other yummies... cakes and desserts that should be on the food network... I can't get a link to work to her site for some reason but contact me if your interested and check her out- she does photography too... I tell you this girl is deluxe!  Thanks Marcie!

Richie left that night to fly back out to New York but Julie stayed until Wednesday.

Monday night we threw together a little last minute dinner with the big extended Fam and then 

dyed Easter Eggs at our place.  

It was so perfect to have Julie and her little family here.  My life goes on hold and we are in vacation mode when family is in town.  they go home and reality hits hard... back to real life... cleaning my house, meetings, making dinner, easter to plan etc...

 We were able to pull off our tradition of "A Christ centered Easter" week and we had a wonderful, relaxing Easter Sunday that I will post about oh... before the end of the year hopefully!