Jan 1
She walks!!!! At last she walks!! Last night at the New Year's Eve party at the Fisher's in St. George, Lily just decided to walk. She walked to me from across the room and then walked everywhere.
Jan 27
Jeremy and I are at a firm retreat at the Zermatt in Midway. Nice place. I called to say goodnight to the girls and Lily said "hi Mom" and then "I love you" I can't believe how much she's growing up!
Highlights for June:
What a crazy month! I piled all the summer lessons into a few weeks. What was I thinking?! Plus we started Summer chores which are going well.
House repairs from lightning strike are going on but they move way too slow.
The backyard is nothing but dirt. They move slow too.
Lily started army crawling!
I turned 34
Kassi turned 4. She is getting so big! she's talking so well and she's such a goofball! She loves being a big sister to Lily and playing with her older sisters. She's really into and Barbie dolls (much to my dismay). Kassi also just loves jumping and climbing on everything! She refuses to ride the balance bike which means we won't be peddling anytime soon... she loves her tricycle and is perfectly content there. She doesn't like to wear shoes for some strange reason. She's been a bit of a tyrant this year and definitely has the temper tantrum thing down but we love, love, love her to pieces and can't imagine life without her!
We went to St. George as a little getaway. We saw "Tarzan" at the Tuacahn. It was amazing! I am so impressed with what they do with the stage there. They use the natural setting in such an incredible way! We had really great seats! Tarzan went right over the top of us several times and we had gorillas picking at Jeremy's hair! Ha! I love the way they did the ape costumes- in the light it was a little interesting but as the night got darker and the stage lit up more, they were really cool gorilla costumes. At one point, though, when things got crazy and Kerchak died, Emmy leaned over to me and said in a very dry tone, "Drama, drama, drama..." It was all I could do not to laugh out loud! Kassi screamed at the cheetah and said "EW!" really loud when Tarzan kissed Jane! The whole night was really fun! The kids all enjoyed it. Lily wasn't able to go to the show (too young) so we did Show Care with her. I was really nervous and concerned that she was just going to yell at them the entire time and I would have to go in during intermission and not watch the rest of the play. But she did really good! She played for a while, drank her bottle, and went to sleep! What a good day it was! Such a fun adventure for the family and I hope we do it again next year. :)
July 4th
Happy Independence Day!
We had a fun-filled day with Auntie arriving! We went to a movie and saw "Finding Dory" Lily is now banned from the movie theater for a long, long, long time. First she dumped water all over my lap. Then she dumped water all over the person sitting in front of us by pulling the bottle over. So I moved the bottle to the other side of me and she dumped water all over the person sitting in front of us on the other side by kicking the bottle over. Then she got chocolate all over the place and proceeded to climb all over me giving me some very sticky chocolate kisses. She wanted her bottle but that had been thrown on the floor and whenever I gave her her binki, she would spit it out and try to throw it too. She wanted to jump and play and not watch the movie. She drove me crazy! I thought that movie would never end...and of course, whenever the movie got quiet she got loud. She's discovered this noise she makes in her throat that sounds like she's hyperventilating. She must really like the noise because she does it a lot and it makes everybody around her very nervous even though there's nothing wrong with her. That noise going on in a movie theater gets a lot of looks! yes, banned! Banned from the movie theater for a long long long time!
July 6
I think Heavenly Father must give us really good days or even moments to prepare us for what's ahead. We had a really good long weekend but then Tuesday hit. We went ice skating with auntie and while we were there Emmy fell and split her eyebrow open. Seven stitches (three inside and four outside). Then today my car broke on our way to take Auntie to the airport. My dials and lights were going crazy and my gas petal was delayed. We ended up at the dealer which is on our way out of town instead of going to the airport. The freeway just felt like a bad idea... now we are sitting at the dealer, stranded. They are out of loaners and they don't have any rentals big enough for my family. Luckily Jeremy was in a position to come take Auntie to the airport (he was faster arriving than a taxi) and will soon be back for us. I have a sinking feeling that he's going to insist that we replace the van now and get a vehicle for him that holds all of us. I'm never going to be able to redo the outside of the house...
July 15
Just got back from an escape from the kiddos. Jeremy and I went to celebrate our anniversary a couple weeks early. We went shopping at the mall, had dinner at The Roof, and caught a movie watching the new Tarzan. I missed a Lily a lot. But it was really nice to get away and have some fun with my hubby.
July 16
Visiting GG today! we love GG!! She's such a great person. It's our first time back since the funeral though and it does feel strange to not have GP in his chair. GG is a tough woman and is keeping herself busy but you can tell she misses him. We all do.
July 17
Things I love:
Lily hugs and scrunchy face
Kassi smiles and belly laugh
Emmy snuggles and evil laugh
Ally giggles and witty humor
Sami talks and goofy side
July 31
Lily finally has teeth!! She got her first tooth at 10 months and 10 days old--the bottom, left, front incisor. The second tooth came 10 days later (10 months, 20 days) but it caught us off guard. It's the top, left, second-to-front incisor! I hope she gets more teeth soon or she will have one silly looking smile...
Crawling. This child doesn't crawl on her hands and knees. Instead she kind of army crawls... but not even. She used to look like an aligator, with her arms and one leg moving quickly in sync, dragging her left leg behind her as if it were her tail, belly sliding along the floor. But now. Now, it reminds me more of a seal out of water. She throws both her arms forward and, using both arms and her right foot (left leg is still just a long for the ride), she propels herself forward with a kind of plop. It's a very fast movement--this girl is quick!--but still very humorous to watch. She will get up on all hands and knees and rock as if she plans to crawl. She gets into a bear crawl position, but usually that is so she can pull herself up to climb or stand or to tuck one leg under and sit. It's as if this little girl is insistent that she is her own person. She won't be caught doing things normally. And I love her all the more for it. :)
An inch-worm crawl...
May 1
Happy May Day! I can't believe May is already here. This year is flying! Why? Why do my babies have to grow so fast and time zoom by making me old? I found the following on an old friend's Facebook and really felt the sentiment (as I'm sure any mom would):
Most of their lives, our children are separated from us. Their arms are drawing or clapping or climbing, not draped around our shoulders. Before we can catch a breath, their heads are turning, asking questions, thinkling up the next adventure or solving the hard problems; not snuggled up, quiet and still, against our necks. So fleeting is the fuzzy hair, the silky soft smallness of their chubby bodies. I'm grasping to hold onto the seconds of sweetness, snuggles, and childhood tenderness before their special, unique childness disappears. Life feels infinitely brief today.
May 3
Sami got her braces off!!!!!!!!! Wooooohooooo!!!! It's been a very long three and a half years! She looks amazing!
May 4
Kassi loves books. She sleeps with a pile of books the way that most children sleep with stuffed toys. I often find her at night sound asleep with an open book propped on her chest. A few nights ago, though, she had a bad dream. The next thing I knew, I was awakened by "Pinkalicious" (her current favorite read) smacking me in the bumm. She had thrown the book on me before climbing onto my bed for a comforting snuggle. For the next hour of lack-of-sleep, the book jabbed me in the ribs, the neck, the thigh, etc. I don't know how she sleeps with those things... and from now on, I'm buying only paperback.
May 5
It's Cinco De Mayo! And we did absolutely nothing to celebrate. Oh well.
It was a full day! Today Emmy did her Mother's Day Program. I loved it! what a darling program. I just sat and enjoyed every second of my cute little Emmy singing her heart out for me. I love that girl!
And Sami had her final track meet that qualified her for the Regional one next week. She focused just on the mile again this time and did so well. Her time to beat was 7:40 and she ran it in 7:14!! Go Sami! If she keeps making improvement like that, she will reach that big goal: run it in under 6:00.
May 8
Today is Mother's Day. I'm so grateful for a wonderful husband today who slaved away in the kitchen all day to make me cheesecake. And the five beautiful, incredible little girls who made me feel so loved all day. I'm also thankful for my own mother who is here spending the weekend with us. The older I get and the more children I learn to juggle, I grow a greater appreciation and understanding of what she must have gone through during my childhood. Motherhood is not easy. Especially when we get distracted by so many other things. I love it though. I wouldn't trade my life for anything. I am where I'm meant to be, doing what I love to do.
May 12
Poor Sami. Today was her big meet to determine who goes to districts and she missed it! She was so sick with the stomach flu all night last night and has absolutely no energy today. I feel so bad for her. The season is over. But the good thing is that now she knows what she loves and can work at improving her times and condition herself to be a strong runner. She and her dad are hopefully goung to take up running together this summer!
I was running late on my way to pick up carpool today with Kassi and Lily in the car. Kassi was having one of her "TYRANT Moments," throwing a full on tantrum because she had forgotten her porcelain turtle she's been insisting on taking everywhere lately and I would not go back to the house for it. I was feeling exasperated until I heard something over the top of all the screaming. LAUGHING! Lily, the baby who won't laugh unless you catch her off guard, was cracking up, giggling and squealing and laughing her head off! Apparently she found Kassi's plight hilarious. Made my day. ;)
May 19
Kassi had her last day of preschool today. The class put on a little program for the parents. It was so darling! Kassi was the cutest little doll! She was just SO Happy to be there and have Jeremy and me there. She smiled from ear to ear through the entire thing!
May 22
Taught lesson today in Primary on the Rameamptum in the Book of Mormon and the importance of humility before the Lord and love for others regardless of their circumstances. I also sang with the choir for the first time in our current ward. And President Eyring gave heartfelt remarks at the end of a really good sacrament meeting. I was feeling good about life when church was over. Only, during Sacrament meeting today there was a thunderstorm going on outside. A few of the lightning strikes felt really close and caused the mic to go out for a couple seconds. We later found out that two of those hit the Angel Moroni on top of the temple just a mile from our home. While I was singing with the choir, there was a really bad strike that caused all power to go out for about ten seconds. It turns out, that was the bolt that hit my house.
We came home from church to find our power was out and we couldn't open our garage door. We don't usually take a house key to church with us so Jeremy walked around the house to see if there was an unlocked door or open window. While he was gone, I noticed Bell was running around in the family room and barking at us through that window. She seemed upset. I thought that odd that we forgot to put her in the mudroom where she usually hangs out when we're gone. When Jeremy came back he said, "I think we were struck by lightning" Huh? He showed me the phone box that had exploded with pieces of it strewn about the woods by my garage, the gutters that were in pieces in several places, and the satellite wires that were severed and lying all over our deck. Bell was very upset so we decided to break a window in the garage and send Jeremy inside. As we were breaking the window, we noticed the gas meter going crazy. Jeremy went in alone and let Bell out. Then he came running out of the house with a wrench to turn off our gas. "There's a fireball in the Livingroom!"
I ran into the backyard and looked from a distance through the windows of the livingroom just in time to see a giant fire under the mantel where we used to have a brand new gas fireplace. Then it was gone as Jeremy turned off the gas. We went inside and found the fireplace sitting in the middle of the room face down, about ten feet from the mantel. The gas line had severed and ignited but was tilted just right that fire was contained in the chimney! Many thing have blown off the wall, including the clock from my wedding. There are cinder marks (holes) on all the furniture in the living and dining rooms and pieces of mental burned into our carpet. The mantel is all blackened and charred. The fireplace downstairs is toasted as well but still sitting where it belongs. The middle tube in our chimney is destroyed. The bricks on the backside of our chimney are crumbled. The lightning must have struck the chimney to our formal fireplace. The electrical currents traveled through the water in our gutters and blew out everything electrical in our garage--dog fence, sprinklers, garage doors.
We figured we were OK though and turned the electricity back on. The basement filled up with smoke and we turned the electricity back off and called 911. Next thing we knew, the house was being invaded by every fireman in the county. I guess they don't get a lot of reports of lightning strikes. I took the kids and the dog to a friend's house to get them out of the way and calmed down. When I came back, they were wrapping up the search of the house. They said there were no active threats but that we couldn't turn our electricity or gas back on until everything was checked, fixed, and then cleared by the city.
This morning Sami said something about wishing the power would go out so we could camp out in the family room with the wood burning fireplace. She jinxed us and here we are. Camping in our home.
May 25
If anything good has come from this lightning nightmare, it is that we have experienced the love that our ward has for us. They have really rallied on our behalf. I've had to turn away help because there's just nothing else we need for now.
May 28
It's been a long week of dealing with repair people, electrician, plumber, and the insurance adjuster. To take a break I took Sami and Ally to see Cavalia Odysseo. WOW! It was amazing! I'm not really a horse person but I was sincerely impressed by the show. Ally's favorite part was the carousel with the acrobats and contortionists showing incredible strength and grace.
Sam's was the riders who did flips and tricks while speeding by on horseback.
Mine was also the carousel. Wow!!
Some of our colder outings in the last several months:
Temple Square at Christmas time
Christmas Lights on Christmas Eve
The Planetarium with Uncle Adam
The Provo City Center Temple Open House
April 2
Lily has had so many firsts this week!!
Jumped in the jumper
Visited a farm
Went down a slide
Eggs
Pb&j sandwich
Traveled at night
And just today:
Met GG
Tried yogurt
Finally rolled onto her belly from her back!!
April 9
What a long week it's been. We started the week on Idaho. We spent Conference Weekend with GG then GP'S funeral was on Monday. It was a nice funeral. It had been raining all day but cleared up in time for the graveside services. It was really nice to see all the family again. We got home late Monday night and took off running on Tuesday. Emily had a field trip to the zoo that I joined her on. Jeremy celebrated his birthday. Ally started up soccer again and won her first game. I got pulled over and realized that my registration had expired way back in December (oops) and has to take care of that. And I started on next year's musical for the school. All this in addition to the usual craziness that comes with getting back in routine after Spring Break.
April 17
Lily turned 7 months last week and she is hitting milestones like crazy! As soon as I decided not to stress her unwillingness to roll over she began rolling everywhere. She's mastered sitting on her own for over ten minutes before plopping. She's becoming a chatterbox like her sisters. She likes to coo and sing and says "Mama" and "Baba." Lily eats small finger foods with ease now though we still don't have teeth. She also feeds herself a bottle which has been a lifesaver for this mom who's always on the run. My favorite new thing: Lily taught herself how to clap!! I woke up on Saturday morning to her lying there laughing and smiling at the ceiling.
April 19
Sami had her very first track meet today! We've known since the summer running groups we did in California that she inherited her father's good endurance and joy of running, so I wasn't surprised when she decided to go out for track. She was so nervous yesterday, though. She did the 800 meter dash back to back with another 800 in the Medley. (A 200, 200, 400, 800 relay). She ran the first dash perfectly. She moved straight to the middle and paced herself at the back of the front pack for the first 600 meters. Then she popped out and sprinted the last stretch, passing four runners and almost catching a fifth, finishing right in the middle of the front pack. The relay had a little more of hiccup. Being the final runner, she had to make up for lost time. The girl running the 400 had already run the mile and 800 and was out of energy. She went from being second to the front to second to last. Then when passing the baton to Sami she just stopped instead of running with Sami to hand off so Sami had to turn and go back to get the baton. By the time she finally got going and found her pace, the last runner was right on her tail. She pushed hard though and stayed in front of last place. At almost 600 meters she was so tired. Her team started running next to her on the field, cheering her on. As she reached the last stretch, the girl behind her started sprinting first and tried to overtake her. We all started screaming "Go Sami! Run!!!" Sami pushed so hard and managed to not finish last. I was so proud of her.
April 20
Ally had her 3rd grade program today! She did such a great job! I really enjoyed it and Ally knew every word. Ally wants to start taking voice lessons and develope her singing. I taught her a few things from my lesson days to help her with things like breathing and projection. I could tell she was using what I taught her during her program. I love her so much!
April 25
A couple weeks ago, Jeremy and Sami went on a ski trip to Montana. I love that they have skiing as a way to bond. I hope they enjoy that time together long into Sami's adulthood. But the wind on the slopes was crazy, I guess, and Jeremy forgot to cover up enough and wear chapstick. When he hot home on Saturday, his lips were already starting to blister. Then the sides of his face swelled up and he ended up with these hard lumps in front of his ears. We had never seem anything like this so on Thursday I made him go to the doctor. The doctor had to look it up! It turns out that he got seriously dehydrated and his saliva glands swelled. She told him to go home and drink lots of liquids and then if the swelling hadn't improved or had gotten worse by Sunday, he was to go to the emergency room for a CT scan because it might be cancer. WHAT? yeah, we were told, either it's nothing or it's CANCER. Luckily by yesterday he was significantly improved. Sheesh doc.
April 28
Sami had another meet today! She decided to run the 800 and the mile. It was such a cold and windy day though. She ended up getting a worse time in the 800 and 7:49 in the mile. She looked so cold out there. Poor girl. But she pushed herself and did her best. I am so proud of her.
