Dance trip

This past weekend we had the opportunity to go to Utah for a dance competetion. These things are so long and you usually have to be there so early that we stay over one night. We got two rooms this time, connected, and were so much more comfortable that when we all squeeze into one. It may have even been worth the extra money! Just having two bathrooms was sublime.
We got there Friday afternoon, and after making a stop at a Super Target (love those) we went to our hotel to go swimming.


What is it about babies in swimsuits that is so dang cute? Maybe that you can see all the fat rolls; maybe that the square inches of kissable softness is now exposed. Whatever it is, I just want to squeeze her!

We had the pool all to ourselves, which was really nice.

Grandma came with us, and it was nice to have the extra help with the kiddos.

Corrine took a little while to warm up the the water at first this time, but after that she loved it.

After swimming, Jason and I took a long trip to our favorite Thai restaurant and brought dinner back to our hotel room.



The next morning, we were there shortly after nine to begin dancing. I know this picture is hard to see, none of my pictures really turned out well. That is Payden on the left. They both rocked in all their dances, which included a freestyle, four solos, and two team dances. Ava's little team did really well also.

Ava's medal! She was so proud of it.
It is almost as big as she is.

Corrine was able to fall asleep even though it is insanely loud at these things.



This is Payden's freestyle. Freestyle means they do a dance of their choice all on their own. I know this sounds like a solo, but it's not. And for their solos, they don't dance alone. They dance in a line of girls, all doing the same dance. Don't ask me why that is called a solo. This is the first year the girls have done freestyle, and they did really well.

Here is Ava's tots team. They did good!

I can't seem to find their team dances or Michaela's freestyle, but I will post them when I do.

How to make a 2 1/2 hour trip into a 5 1/2 hour trip...

First, you must start a few months before by taking your beloved mini van to the dealer for a "Honda Certified Oil Change". You do this because you love your van, and want to take care of it well, even though you know you will pay more for the "quality" service. You assume that they will treat your car better than a typical oil changing place.

Fast forward a few months, to an out of town trip. Be competely ignorant, assume that since you have a 2005 Honda Odessey EX that has recently been serviced you don't need to check the oil level.
NEVER DO THIS AGAIN.
After a fun filled weekend of dance competitions, shopping and swimming, pack 4 tired girls and 3 exhausted adults into said mini van.

But not before you eat at your favorite buffet; Sweet Tomatoes rocks.

So at 8pm on Saturday night, head off to find a Holiday gas station because they have horchata on tap.

What, you don't like horchata? This is my tutorial, I'm doing it my way. Have a Coke then.

En route to the gas station, feel van lurch.

Hear awful engine noise.

See a "malfunction" light come on your dashboard.

Quickly pull into any gas station, no longer needs to be a Holiday.

At the gas station, have husband check oil. Hear husband say that there is almost NO OIL in you van. WHAT? Spend $25 dollars on outrageously priced oil to fill your oil tank with 4 quarts of oil.
There really wasn't any in there.

Get in the van, praying that you haven't done serious damage to your engine. Begin wondering if the Honda place had anything to do with this, because you never had trouble with your van before. Also remember a slight amount of oil in your garage, which husband told you not to worry about. But also remember that your van never leaked oil before the afformentioned oil change.

Start drive home. Get slightly out of the city, and since the light hasn't gone off, decide you should check the oil level again. Pull into a gas station.

Have hubby check oil again, level is low. Get down on the ground, observe oil dribbeling out of van.

Panic.

Calm children in van who think the van is about to explode.

Have husband reach under to feel where the oil is coming from, and procede to observe as the very loose oil plug pops off.

Watch as your $25 in oil pours completely out of your van, making a huge mess on the ground.

Remember you don't swear.

Listen as husband, in a heroic attempt to save the escaping oil by trying to replace the plug, shouts when the hot oil hits his hand. "HOT! its HOT" you hear him say.

Because you are tired, grumpy, and worried about your engine, tell your husband in a slightly condescending tone that OF COURSE the oil would be hot, what was he thinking?

Realize that the Honda place may have just cost you your engine buy not properly tightening the oil plug. Really get steamed.

Go inside to tell the store clerk that there is a huge oil spill outside, because you are responsible and want to inform them.

Get snipped at by the ungrateful store clerk.

Have husband put the oil plug back on, as tight as he can get it, buy some more oil, and go looking for a Wal Mart to purchase a socket wrench to properly tighten the plug, and also some more affordable oil because hubby only bought a little at the gas station.

Spend 45 minutes looking for a Wal Mart, after having very unhelpful directions from Wal Mart employee.

Get to Wal Mart. Have hubby buy necessary items, jack up the car, fix plug and fill oil.
Go inside yourself and buy a Coke. Even though you are nursing and NEVER drink caffine while nursing, never in 4 kids. But it is 10:30 at night and you still have a way to go.

Tell kids to stop whining and go to sleep.

Get back on road, after asking very nice but poorly dressed couple for directions to interstate. (Woman was wearing winter boots and pajama bottoms.)

Notice that van is operating well, and indicator light has gone off.

Say a prayer of thanks.

Have one more stop so hubby can relieve himself, because he drank a gallon of Coke trying to stay awake to help you stay awake, but he fell asleep anyway. Oh, and check oil then. Find everything ok.

Dance, sing, slap face, generally do anything to stay alert and awake on drive home while hubby snoozes next to you.

Don't get resentful.

Get home at 1:30 in the morning, exhausted, but grateful.

Because you still get up two more times with the baby, have your wonderful husband let you sleep in until 10:30 am.

Do not repeat.

Corrine's Pruney Piggies

Looking at the future

This morning when I was getting dressed, Ava looks at my underwear and says, "That's modest."
We have been having discussions about modesty lately, becasue Ava likes to modify her dress up clothes, and much of the time they end up sleeveless or even strapless for some reason. So we discuss what could make it modest, and usually she complies.
The other day in the store, we saw some cute dresses that were sleeveless. She commented on how cute they were, then said she would need to wear a shirt under them.
I am so glad that she is taking this in, and making it a part of herself.

Today, after her comment, I explained that after you get married in the temple, this is what you wear under your clothes. I told her that they help keep you modest. She smiled up at me, and said:
"I want to get married in the temple."

I want you to get married in the temple too, sweetie, for more reasons than you know right now.

Sunday brawl

Sunday, Payden and Ava went outside to play. These two fight like you would not believe, which always amazes me due to their difference in age; Payden almost nine and Ava 4. It seems no one told them they shouldn't fight like that, especially Payden, who should be an example to her 4 year old sister.

Oh, wait, I say that daily, sometimes many times a day.

Anyway, they went outside to play and I kid you not, 5 minutes later they were both screaming at each other. I am not exaggerating; they were screaming at the top of their lungs.
When this happens in the house, it bothers and aggrevates me.
When it happens outside, I am mortified. We have a rule; if you fight outside, you come inside.

They were fighting over a stick.

So they came inside, and Payden wouldn't stop fighting and whining, so she was sent to her room, after being told she should be an example, its just a stick, blah blah blah. ( Sometimes I think the only thing she hears is the blah part.)

When she came upstairs, she brought a note with her, apologizing for fighting with Ava and for over reacting about a stick. She wrote that since she calmed down, she realized what she could have done instead, ask Ava to share the stick and be kind.

I loved the note, and I hope it is a sign that Payden might be getting what I am always trying to tell her. Maybe it means this phase of over reacting and not being able to control herself is winding down. Payden is such a sweet girl, sharing, compassionate, loving. If she could learn to think before she acts and calm down more, she would be so much happier.

At least she would spend less time in her room.

What a beautiful day!

It was such a pretty day out that we decided to walk to church. We were supposed to leave by 12:00 because our ward starts at 12:30, but we left at 12:15, so we had to hurry. We did make it! There were a lot of people leaving in their cars at the same time, we felt kind of funny walking as they cruised by. I liked it though; it would be kind of nice if we all didn't have cars and we had to walk or bike everywhere we wanted to go. How different our lives would be! So much slower paced.

It is almost 1 mile to our church. The walk home was much more enjoyable, we took our time. It was so nice to walk home, waving and chatting with our neighbors as we went. Michaela commented that it was so nice that we knew almost everyone. I agree. I love our neighborhood and our ward.

I think we will continue to walk until it just gets too hot!

Easter 2009

I love Easter. It is so relaxed and laid back compared to Christmas, and cheaper too. You get to have dinner with family without breaking the bank buying presents.

These are a few of the eggs the girls did. Try using a rubber band around your eggs when you dye them; we did, and it made a cool effect. I just love the tiny finger prints on the other eggs! I wanted to keep those forever, but I guess a picture will have to do.

Easter baby!


Family dinners are one of my favorite things about holidays. The weather was beautiful on Sunday, too. A wonderful Easter. We did our egg hunt Sunday before church, then at church I sang.

I absolutely love Easter for the excuse to go shopping with all my girls and for us all to get a new outfit at the same time. That only happens twice a year; Christmas and Easter. The Easter colors are usually better. My mom said she saw a commercial where a dad is buying four Easter dresses and the cashier says "4 Easter dresses?". That would be us. Except I get one too, so I guess that makes 5. This year Jason got a tie to match; it was pink! Really, who didn't see that one coming with a house full of girls?

To find their Easter baskets this year, I gave them clues to follow until they found it. They had a lot of fun doing that, and asked me to do it next year. I had seen a really cute idea of using a different color yarn for each child. Tie it to their bedpost, then meander through the house with it and tie it to their baskets. They have to follow the yarn to find their basket. The clues were easier, and less messy!

We colored eggs on Friday, after my swim. Even Corrine tried one!

You can see where the tiny finger prints on the colored eggs came from!


This is another reason I love Easter, dying eggs is just so much fun. Everyone loves it, then we have all those hard boiled eggs for deviled eggs, cobb salad, egg salad sandwhiches, yum.

Of course, we have the picture with the Easter bunny. It might be our last with all 4, I barely got Michaela to agree to this. Then we saw a couple of her friends in the mall, she was a little embarrased. I thought Corrine would scream, but she didn't. She was very interested in the bunny's fur. Also, kind of lame set up for the Easter bunny this year.A sheet and some garlands. I could have done a better job of that.

We started Easter off right with a FHE the Monday before on Easter and why it is important. After that, my girls kept asking me, what do eggs and bunnies have to do with Easter? I have no idea! They know the true meaning, and that is what is important to me. All in all, a great Easter. Hope you all had a good one too!

Bengal Spring Sprint Triathalon

This past weekend, I participated in my first ever sprint triathalon. I have been wanting to do this for a while, and about a month ago I saw this one advertised. It was here in town, cheap, and the swim was the day before the bike and run. I thought it was a good way to get my feet wet, so I started training.



A month is not enough time to train. Need longer.


I was not last! That was my worst fear, that I would be dead last.



I was second to last, but I was not last. And I did beat my own record, so that was good. But there was an 11 year old boy who beat me.

Here I am getting ready for the swim. Oh, the focus.

I had to swim 700 yds, which is 14 laps or 28 lengths. I knew I needed to rest some, and was so relieved to see other people doing the same. My mom and Jason and the kids came to see me. Michaela brought her MP4 and was taking pictures of me. My swim time was 21:09 minutes. Not bad; it usually takes me 1/2 hour at the gym. I ended up being the 4th slowest swimmer. Someone did it in 8 minutes. 8 minutes!!!

The next day, Jason and I went to the bike/run at 9am. My mom took the girls to an Easter egg hunt in our neighborhood and then brought them later.

Here is Ava in front of the clock. This is about 2 minutes before I finished.

A picture before the race began.


Since I was the 4th slowest swimmer, I had to wait a while to start the bike. They had the fastest swimmer start at 9:30, then the next person started based on how fast they swam. So I had to wait until the clock said 21:09 until I could start. There were some super fast swimmers, and then a bunch with 17 and 18 minute swims, and then 3 people after me. So that left me standing all by myself, waiting for the clock to tick to my time. Akward.

The cheese stands alone.

Then, because I started all alone, I pretty much had the course to myself. I saw other bikers on their way back, and two people passed me, but other than that, I was alone. It was hard to know how I was doing this way. I didn't have anyone around me to gauge my progress, and since the computer on my bike is broken I couldn't tell how fast I was going. I think I would have done better if I had been more in the thick of things. Next time I will swim faster!

This is coming in from the ride. It was a 13 mile ride, the last bit uphill. I had promised myself I WOULD NOT get off my bike and walk it up that hill. I didn't have to!

I took off my leggings, jacket and helmut and started running. At this point I am thinking " 3.2 miles. I am going to die." I had a gel pack in my jersey that I ate. Not sure it helped, but it sure didn't hurt.

During the run, I actually passed someone, and that is why I wasn't last! At one point, I went off the trail by accident, and had to climb up a steep hill to get back on. I am sure that effected my time by at least 1 minute.

My girls were all there waiting for me, and Ava ran up to me saying "Mommy! Yeah Mommy!" As I came into sight, all the other contestents were cheering for me. (Because I was almost last, they were all already done!) It was emotional for me, but I would not embarass myself by crying!

I ended up finishing with a time of 1 hour and 43 minutes. The person who won did it in 47 minutes. Wow. I took 50 minutes to bike and 1/2 hour to run. Next time I will push harder on the bike. Maybe if I can see some other people biking, I would know how hard to push!

I am so glad I did this. I want do to another one soon, maybe the one in August. I will need to train more; my goal is to be at least 3rd last next time!

Random memory

From time to time, when I remember something, some sweet memory that pops into my mind, I will blog about it. I am sure I didn't journal about it, so this way I can remember!

I was remembering Michaela's Easter when she was about 15 months old. I had made a trail of jelly beans to her Easter basket, thinking that would be a cute way for her to find it. She followed the trail, eating the jelly beans along the way. She had an adorable trail of jelly bean drool down her chin.

It was morning, and she hadn't had breakfast yet, and a belly full of jelly beans when you usually aren't allowed much candy can have it's consequences.

She was fussy all day, and by early afternoon when we were having Easter dinner, she was crying so loudly we couldn't eat, and she wouldn't eat. I put her down for a nap instead.

Lesson learned; breakfast first, candy later.

Don't grow up...

When my girls are little and being so precious it hurts, I often will ask them to stay little; don't grow up.
Tonight when I was putting Ava to bed, she was being very cute, cuddled up with an armful of stuffed animals. I asked her if she could just stay 4, because I sure liked her being 4. I said "Can't you just stay my little 4 year old?"
She said, yes, then changed her mind, and said "I can be your little 5 year old!"

Just Peachy

Corrine LOVES to eat, and really enjoys just about anything we give her. She does seem to have a texture issue, if her baby food veggies are too thick, she doesn't like them and I have to thin them down.

Also, if I am sweaty or smell like a pool, she won't nurse.

She pushes her self away from me and holds her mouth closed.

Even wiping the neccesary equipment with a wet cloth doesn't do the job; she needs me to shower.

Oh, I am way off topic.

Anyway, Corrine was eating a frozen peach slice and had some interesting facial expressions while doing so.

Allow me.

She licked it a little here, not much tasting going on yet.

Got a little piece with that bite.

Ohhh, boy. I am not sure if it was the tangy peach or the frozen coldness, but she was shocked!

Oh, yeah, getting the hang of it.

Eventually she got over the initial shock and ate it all. I think the coldness felt good on her poor swollen gums.

I am doing enough.

I am so thankful for General Conference this weekend. All the talks were good, but a few really touched me personally, like President Uchtdorf's talk on Sunday morning.
http://www.byub.org/generalconference/

If I was uber cool ( though I would use a Germanish word in honor of Uchtdorf) I would just add a link and say go here to watch it, but I still don't know how to do that, so you get the whole ugly url.

Anyway, I struggle often with feeling that I don't do enough in the spiritual aspect of parenting my children. Not being born a member, I wasn't raised with the example of how to do certain things. Certain things are a given, like going to church every Sunday and holding FHE (fhe because it was an answer to a prayer and I will never forget it) but others are harder to remember. Like having family prayer daily. I have tried and tried to remember to do this, even enlisted the help of my children by saying that whoever reminds us to have family prayer gets a piece of candy upon us actually praying. I have it posted on my fridge "family prayer" so I won't forget.

Still forget.

I will hear things that life long member families do, or read something on line that brings on a surge of guilt and thoughts that go along the lines of "I should be doing that".

Case in point, I was looking for something to print off for my kids to do during conference. I usually have them write the speakers name, a sentence of what they thought the talk was about, and have them count the number of times that speaker says a certain word. Then we pause between each speaker (love DVR) and talk about what they got out of each talk. We also always have doughnuts on conference Sunday. But when I read what some other families do, I was overhwhelmed. I didn't even think in this vein, let alone do anything about it.

I had no idea that some members prepare for conference by holding certain FHE's the week before or praying certain things in the coming week, or things of that nature.

Preparing for conference weekend up to a week or more before? It would certainly highlight the experience, but I didn't even contemplate it.

Hence, more guilt.

This is just one tiny area, just one small example of all the ways I often feel inadequate to teach my things of all things gospel related.

I pray continually that Heavenly Father pick up my "slack" in the spiritual area for my children. It is not that I don't want to do more, quite the contrary. I just don't even KNOW what to do.

Then on Sunday, I was listening to Uchtdorf's talk. Something he said made me start down the guilt path and I was thinking things like "I don't do enough, will my children suffer for it" etc.

Then Uchtdorf says "To all those who have not been life long members of the church,"

Ok, I am listening.

He went on to say that God needs our unique talents and abilities, and I was left with the thought that even though I may not do as much as my friends or neighbors, I do enough. I do enough for my children. As long as I am doing my best and always trying to improve, I am doing enough. Heavenly Father will give me what I need to parent my children, and I don't need to worry that I am depriving them of spiritual guidance with my ignorance.

Thank you President Uchtdorf. Thank you Heavenly Father.

And for those of you who may notice at what time this was posted, give me a break. I woke up to feed Corrine, this was on my mind, and since the house was quiet I thought I would take advantage of it. I am going back to bed now.

"Spring" Picnic

Oh, what to do when everyone wants to have a picnic, but it is still SNOWING outside? Have one indoors, of course.

Corrine joined us, but didn't partake of the picnic offerings. She seemed to enjoy the change of scenery, though.

I made lunch, and we ate downstairs in our spare room. We spread out a blanket, and opened the blinds so what sunshine there was could shine in. We pointed out birds, the green grass, and squashed ants that were trying to invade our picnic.

We even had a sun and some flowers, courtesy of Payden, who wanted the room to be as springy as possible.

We may have to wait for a real outdoors picnic for quite a while, given this weather.

April Fools!

We had a fun day on April Fools day. I couldn't think of a good way to get Jason, but I had fun with the girls! It started in the morning. I had made jello in juice cups, so when they went to drink their "juice", it wouldn't come out. Payden figured it out right away, and ruined it for Michaela by saying "it's jello!" out loud. Ava wasn't at the table yet though, so it worked on her. She looked in her cup, then leaned down and smelled it. I asked her what she was doing, and she said, "smelling my juice." I asked her if it smelled good, and she said yes, then picked it up and tried to drink. She tipped her head way back, then with a frown on her face pulled it down and stuck her finger in it. She said "it's all sticky, mom!" I also put food coloring in the bottom of their cereal, so that when they poored in teh milk they got a surprise.
Then for the girls lunches, I cut a slit in a package of candy, took the candy out and put in baby carrots. They came home and said they knew they would find something funny in their lunches!

For dinner, I made fake cupcakes: meatloaf cooked in muffin liners and topped with mashed potatoes tinted with food coloring. These looked like the real deal! Ava was home when I was cooking them, and she asked what I was making. I told her cupcakes for dinner; she got excited. I felt a little guilty tricking her! I had to work that night, so Jason served them. He told them that mom had made cupcakes for dessert, but that he thought they should eat them for dinner. This is so out of character for us that Michaela kept saying "are you sure dad?" Ava just got excited.
I wish I could have witnessed it, but Jason told me all about it.

They tasted really good!

Payden figuring out that they weren't real cupcakes.

These looked like the real deal!

Then for dessert, I had cut the tops off of bell peppers and put candy inside, so it looked like they were just getting peppers for dessert. When I was preparing these, I almost didn't wash them, because I was thinking they wouldn't get eaten. But I know my girls, so I washed them. Sure enough, they ate the peppers, too! Our daughters love their veggies. Michaela even said she would have happily just had the pepper, the candy was the bonus. I am not sure about that by the look on her face in the picture below, when she was taking her pepper!



Ahh, there is the dessert!