Go Hop On Pop

Princess Alyssa knew exactly how she wanted her birthday to go down. For those who know Alyssa she knows just what she wants and is hard to convince otherwise. She is stubborn, opinionated and good as gold. Her birthday plans started a month ago with the choosing of the perfect dress. I took Alyssa to the mall where I brought a big dose of patience and let her try on any dress she wanted. She picked half a dozen and we went to the dressing room. This was a first for her and she loved the whole process. She twirled in all of the mirrors and when she had tried on all of the dresses she asked if she could try them on again. She finally decided on a bright pink, sparkly dress. We found some bright pink shoes to match, picked out tights and then brought it home to wrap. This morning she opened her dress before church, of course I didn’t get a picture. Church is at 9am and Emma and Danny had to be there at 8:20 meaning they had to leave at 7:55 to get there on time and Hallie decided to have a fit at breakfast because Tanner took her cup away… Bringing myself back on topic… I didn’t get a picture, but she looked like a birthday girl. After church we had pizza and hot wings and cake, the cake had to be chocolate with bright pink frosting with her name in purple. I decided to just buy one, it tasted as interesting as it looked and no one ate much… hey I might be on to something. We opened presents and had a tea party.

It isn’t easy having a birthday close to Christmas, but Alyssa seems to enjoy her Christmas birthday and even insists that I wrap her gifts in Christmas paper.

Alyssa is a bright child who can talk faster than anyone I know, she loves to tell stories in an animated fashion. She cares about what she wears and carefully plans out her outfits and hair. She is a kind and loving child who just wants to grow up faster than I wish she would. I love you My little Lyss!

I just love Christmas. This year has been fairly crazy, but enjoyable. Emma had a flute recital and a school band concert and Aubrey’s 2nd grade musical is this week. We cut down our tree with some friends on the 3rd of December and my shopping is pretty much done. Just a few pictures…

One year ago today I got off a plane in Ohio with my 5 children. We were greeted with grey skies and snow. It was so cold and windy and we were very overwhelmed. In contrast today it is bright and sunny and a delightful day. I can’t even begin to put words to the feelings that are in my heart, and I’m not even going to try. I will keep it simple, we miss our friends and family terribly, but at the same time we are overjoyed for the wonderful blessings that we have experienced this year. My heart is full, my life if blessed, and we are Happy and really what more can we ask for? Our Heavenly Father has guided us and led us to where we need to be. The journey has been difficult at times, but I can honestly say in the end we can look back and see His hand in all things. Now I will dry my eyes and pull myself together.

(above) This picture cracks me up, look at those faces.

(below) Ohio in the Fall.

As most of you know we bought a new house last month, it is almost 4000 square feet of pure 1990 dated bliss, and I love every square foot and every brass fixture and laminate counter top. It is a home made just for us. The basement is finished and I could lose a child or 5 down there, and I often do. We can see ourselves here for a very long time. If you want our new mailing address send me an email and I’d be happy to give it to you. The house is within walking distance of a large lake where the above picture was taken. We walk down there to fish, swim, watch the boats come in and out, walk on the docks, throw rocks, pick up shells, walk in the forest and just enjoy nature at it’s very best. If anyone wants to visit Church History sites we’d love to have visitors and now have the room to put you up, come see us.

Lynda, a good friend of ours took our family pictures every year. This year I wasn’t sure what we were going to do. I tried a few people on CraigsList but some of their work was…well, not what I was looking for. I got the courage up and decided to try my hand at taking pictures. Here are a few of my favorites. They didn’t turn out too badly, I wish I was better with editing software, they might look even better. There’s a good goal for me this next year, learn Photoshop.

Life doesn’t stop, since I’m behind on my blog already I’m going to lump these two together in one birthday post. Seems like they have been twins since they were 2 years old and inseparable, I’m sure they wont mind sharing a birthday post.

Emma turned 13 this year. We have a teenager, for those of you who haven’t hit this great milestone, let me tell you… Nothing really has changed. She may have lost her sense of humor toward some things, but overall, it’s been a smooth transition. Emma is growing up so beautifully. I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Emma is a great big sister, I will catch a few beautiful moments of her interacting with her sisters, and she is so sweet and kind with them. They like to come into her room and look at her jewlery and “make up” and she will often put it on them and so kindly tell them they are beautiful. It brings tears to my eyes, to see her so strong in the gospel, she loves her Heavenly Father and is always striving to follow His teachings. We call her our little DilEmma because she strives to hard to follow every rule to the extreme and it often causes her dilemmas.

She’s been invited to take the ACT test this year as part of a college talent program, she will get the chance to take it and the SAT test every year now until she graduates. She’s excelling in her flute, and started private lessons recently to take it up a notch. Marching band is in her future next year in high school–ACK.

Tanner is singing Happy Birthday to Emma in the top picture. She requested lemon meringue pie, which I drove out to Amish Country to find. She just finished up a great season running Cross Country and took almost 3 minutes off of her time from the beginning to the last race. We love you Miss Emma!

Tanner brings so much joy and screaming into our family. If I was supposed to have only one son, I couldn’t have asked for a better fit for this family. His sisters adore him and take good care of him, and he is really good at being a big brother. He’s loving, sweet, yet tough enough to make them all scream at once if he feels like it.

Tanner has also been invited to start taking the ACT tests and SAT tests, he will take his first one in February. He seems so young, but has some lofty goals. Although he is wearing a BYU sweatshirt, he really wants to go to MIT and go into robotics. I know things can change but right now this is his goal. He’s pulled all A’s so far in middle school. He ran with the Cross Country team this year as well, but couldn’t actually race because of his age. He’s doing well with his piano lessons, and playing everything less like a funeral march (that is his piano style we have decided). Music is not his natural talent, but I refuse to let him out of it.

This year Tanner wanted a game for the Wii, Smash Brothers. He wanted pumpkin pie…obviously my kids aren’t much for cake. Last year we spent his birthday with our good friends the Hamblins. It was our last day in Dayton, and instead of a celebration it was a bawl fest, so this year we pretty much partied the whole day for him. We picked him up from school and took him to lunch and then returned him to school. We were supposed to close on our new house on his birthday, but I moved up the date by a couple of weeks so that his birthday wouldn’t be part of a move again.

We love you Tanner!

I’m sitting here with my Alyssa, we normally do preschool but today we had Kindermusic and so she is coloring by me on the floor.  I hear her chatter about the beautiful colors of the crayons, the immodest dress of the princess she is coloring. Times have changed and it makes me sad that my 4 year old knows that something is immodest. I know someday I’ll miss her constant chatter.  She sure sees the world differently and the things she says make me giggle. 

A few weeks ago we had a preschool lesson on slavery.  Today while making lunch I looked around the house and said, “Man, I sure could use a maid today”.  Alyssa looked at me so stunned, and then asked me if I’d let my maid go when I was done with him.  I can’t wait until she is in Kindergarten, I’ll make a deal with the teacher that I wont believe half of what Alyssa says happens at school if she wont believe half of what Alyssa says happens at home.

So much has happened recently, and there is so much to tell, I just don’t know where to begin.  For starters Danny and I bought another home. We close on it in a month, and I am so relieved. The new house is the biggest of all the homes we have owned, but half the cost. I love the mid west! What a relief to me to own another home.  Now we can belong, and I am never moving again, someone remind me of this statement if I ever get a bright idea to buy another home or move again. I really love this home, it sits on half an acre, and it is perfect for our family.

A little catch up on everyone since I have been such a slacker:

First Day of School=cold and miserable

I’m a little sentimental lately.  When I went to take a bath the other day this is what greeted me.  I’m sure that someday I’m going to miss stuff like this, so I post this picture to remind myself to enjoy the little annoyances of life.

Aubrey had her 7th birthday. What a delightful child she is. She wanted donuts brought into the school, and she wanted her teacher to throw her up the to the ceiling and that is exactly what happened, but not before he made her stand on a stool and do a dance while the class sung to her.  Then he picked her up and threw her up to the ceiling.  She was as delighted as can be.  That evening she wanted to go to build a bear.  We brought her home and had homemade mushroom and Canadian bacon pizza,cake and ice cream.  Aubrey is my little mama, my helper, my smiler, my overall easy to be with happy child.

Apple Picking

The opportunity to pick apples is abundant in Ohio.  We went out to an orchard not far from our home and a farmer who reminds me of my grandfather in his overalls gave us the run down on all the types of apples available.  The kids went a little nuts and we are still eating apples. Good thing they like them!

Still mowing my giant back yard.  Never saw anything like this in Nevada (mushrooms), and no we didn’t eat them.

Two year old mascara trouble– I knew something like this would eventually happen. So far so good with girls cutting their own hair, now that I’ve said it… any ideas what my next blog post will be about?

Picture below was taken with the a cell phone, I put a V over Emma’s head.  The 8th grade band played with the high school band. Ohio takes their sports seriously and the band is pretty impressive. This gave us a small glimpse of what our weekends are going to look like for the next 4 years.

That about catches me up for the last month I’ve missed.  Things will be crazy for the next month, but once we get moved in and settled, I’ll post some pictures of the new house.

I wanted the to send the summer off with a bang.  I said to Danny “throw caution to the wind”.  “Take us to a Hawaiian Island.”  Either he failed Geography or he needs help in the hearing department… oh wait…  I guess he has a valid excuse, really I think he was following his wallet.

Who knew landlocked, middle of America Ohio had islands.  Lucky for us we get to discover these things, what joy it has been to have a renewed sense of discovery and adventure.  The boat ride was probably the highlight of the day.  No one puked, so I was happy too.

I have decided that life on an island would be very laid back, and the houses are so stinking cute.  If I ever come into a sum of money, I’m going to buy a summer house on an island, and just let the kids swim, hike and be kids and I’m going to plant my butt in a hammock, retrieve and bathe the children at night.

When we first got there we thought we would just hike to the other side of the island where the sandy beaches were and have a swim.  It was a bit of a hike and we made it, but the thought of dragging them all back was a little overwhelming, so Dad saved the day.

While Dad was hooking us up with our ride the rest of us did what all people who live on an island should do.

Deep in thought

We took off to tour the island, now I have to come home and buy a golf cart, it was such a great way to get around.  One more reason I should move to an island.

A few sites:

Grooves carved by a glacier, the girls wanted to fill it with water and use it as a water slide.

Cute little house.

And then back to reality, but it was fun while it lasted.  There are a few more islands to visit, you can bet we will.

Boat ride back

School starts up this week, along with that comes a buzz of nervous excitement in the house. I look forward to setting some new goals and getting into a nice routine.

A few pictures to capture a few moments:

Alum Creek Lake--half a mile from our house!

Hallie's first haircut, so cute, not so much a baby anymore

No swim lessons this summer, but lots of time in the lake has made them pretty comfortable in the water

Grandma and Grandpa T spent a week with us this summer.  Grandpa and Danny took the kids fishing but I didn’t dare send a camera with 5 kids and Grandpa, I was afraid I was already asking too much.  We went to the state fair and got caught in a huge storm.  The kids love Grandpa, he’s so chill and loves to watch cartoons with them and buy them candy, I look the other way during the week because I know this time is so important.

Cute Tanner received his Webelo in July.  They had a swimming party so he was all wet.  I’m so proud of Tanner.  He also spent two weeks at pre-algebra camp this summer.

Tomato Thief

Danny picked weeds, Hallie helped.  This is just half of what she picked, little stinker.  We had quite a crop of tomatoes this week so we weren’t too upset, and who can get upset at that cute face, especially when she just thought she was helping.

Stellar storms blow through here weekly.  This one had so much lightening I was certain I could get a picture of it, but I didn’t.  We haven’t watered our lawn or our garden once this summer it’s been a treat.  I love the rain, and we love to sit on the front porch and watch the storms come.

Had to capture some of the girls summer paintings.  I might be tempted to complain about the messes they  make but they are staying busy and having such a good time.

Next week is our last full week before school begins, and I want to go out with a bang. Looking forward to another great school year.

August 18 we traveled  to our nations capital aka Aunt Eva’s house.  My kids love going to see their cousins, my sister Eva has kids closest in age to mine.  We are each others Yin and Yang, with her 3 sons and one daughter, my 4 daughters and 1 son they get lost in a world with one another and we pretty much have no interaction with them the entire time other than feeding them and making sure they shower occasionally.  Cousins are a wonderful gift.

My sister’s oldest son is named Evan, but for some reason (Alyssa) the girls can’t wait to get there to call him Kevin.  In return he calls Alyssa Melissa since she is obviously the reason for his misery.  Tanner takes off into a world of Pokemon then entire time and Laura goes off into a world of make believe with my girls that I sometimes wonder if they will ever emerge from.  At meal time I have to ask them to come out of character.

Hallie potty trained at my sisters house, I guess when you put 9 children in one townhouse, you get lots of “got to go potty” and she was the only one in diapers, well it ended on this trip.  Why fight it, if the kid is begging to go, might as well play along.  She has been in undies since we returned with most days a success.

We love living this close to so many opportunities to see new things. Unfortunately the week we went was record breaking heat.  Yes I let my kids get into the fountains that I’m sure are look don’t touch in Washington D.C., with a heat index of 113 degrees, no one could blame me.  The kids were awesome though, and we were able to see much of D.C., including an unofficial/unplanned tour of Georgetown during rush hour.  I swear if I hear the GPS tell me one more time to make a legal u turn… got to love the roads, they turn all lanes to one way with no way to cross center islands when you need to make left hand turns.

One of my favorite places was Mt. Vernon.  What a delightful little gem, we took a slavery tour that was an hour long, and the kids amazed and surprised me with their attention span.  Learning more about George Washington was great.  The kids of course loved the “necessary” (out house).

Next time we want to see Jamestown.

Grant was baptized and we were happy we could be a part of his day and proud of him.

MANASSAS BATTLE FIELDS: Eva’s house just about sits on the battle fields.  History eeks out of everywhere.

These two spent the entire week as best friends, it was hard to break them apart.

MT. VERNON:

Can you tell how hot it was?

HIKING IN VIRGINIA:

WASHINGTON D.C.: You can see the heat on their faces

BEATING THE HEAT-LAKE IN MARYLAND:

GRANT’S BAPTISM

Good memories made, isn’t that what vacation is all about.  Thank Eva and Rob for letting us hang with you, can’t wait until we get together again.

One  year ago today a chapter closed and a new one began.  A year ago today we were in Salt Lake City headed to Lagoon for the day.  Danny had gotten a call right before we left on our trip to fly out for a job interview in Columbus OH.  We didn’t want to cancel our trip so we had them get the tickets from the SLC airport.  I took 5 kids to Lagoon myself after I dropped Danny off at the airport.  The feelings that flooded me were with a little bit of excitement and dread.  The entire day at the park I had my mind on my husband.  He had, I think, he may come on and correct me but 8 interviews that day.  He flew home the following day and brought each of the kids an Ohio memento.  I remember thinking that if he didn’t get this job that we’d have these mementos to remind us of our disappointments for a long time to come.  I shoved it out of my mind and let the children enjoy their tokens of love.  We returned to our home later that week and went on with life as usual.  We didn’t hear from them for a long time (a week) but when you are waiting that’s a long time (remember that boys when you don’t call a girl).  Anyway, they said to be patient, they were doing some reorganization.  We waited, months, with no word and went on with life that it just didn’t work out.  Then one day in October Danny got the call at work, right after he had been informed that his boss was retiring and that if he wanted the job he could have it.  So all of our cards were in front of us.  We knew we had to make a choice, Danny didn’t like the way his job was going, he didn’t want to be a people manager and pulled away from his true love of computers.  So the decision was simple in the end.

As I reflect on this past year, it has been one our hardest since we started our journey together 15 years ago. I would rather have a thousand paper cuts and do pushups in lemon juice then repeat this year. I always tell Danny that being married is the easiest part, it’s life that gets in the way.  It has been trial after trial, but we are happy we have closed this chapter in our lives and opened a new one.  Our dog passed away a couple of weeks ago, and I think that was the final event.  We decided to put Jazzy down, we also decided to talk to the children about the reasoning’s for making this choice, although we did consider telling them that she was sick and we took her to the vet and she didn’t make it… but decided we could make this a learning opportunity about life.  It sucked.  I took one last picture with her and the kids and it’s too heart breaking to post.  They were all very sad but understood the reasoning behind it and that we were actually showing her compassion to let her go.  Here’s hoping for a happier chapter to follow.

Danny is extremely happy at his new job.  He’s loving the daily challenges, the large scale of his job, and the international flare.  He sees a future with this job, and has plenty of room to grow and learn.  There were so many reasons to make this change and we are finally starting to see some of them.  We love the community, schools, trees, lakes, laid back attitudes, children friendly activities.  Our ward entered a float in the local parade.  My children were giddy with excitement, and set their own alarms to get up on time.

Picture overload!  Following the parade we went to a friends home for a BBQ and fireworks.

A few pictures of the last few weeks.

Making Cookies after Church

Baby deer in the backyard

Hocking Hills

More Hocking Hills, we just skimmed the surface, can't wait to explore more.

Summer Fun

Can you see Danny in the back ground mowing the back half of the yard. The hill goes down to a creek

I go walking at the dam every morning.  Hallie and Alyssa come with me and then we play at the park at the bottom of the dam afterward.  The other day Hallie asked me where we were going and I told her we were going to the park, and she quickly replied with “the dam park?”.  Since then our entire family refers to it as the “dam park”—funny the things that stick.  Tonight we went to the Dam Park with some friends from the ward.  We had a BBQ and the kids ran up the large grassy hills and rolled back down.  The kids were all on top of the dam when a large thunderstorm rolled in.  They were out in the open and in the highest spot in the area, so we quickly called them down and enjoyed a marvelous thunder/lightening storm from the safety our cars, and it poured unlike anything I have ever seen.  The lightening continues still hours later.  I love the freak storms we get here, seems like once a week we get a reprieve from the heat with a beautiful rainstorm.