Green Luck!

No we did not come into some money - although money would be nice. Rather we had us a fun St Patty's day! Ok, I guess I am over my birthday burn out because I couldn't help myself. I had to celebrate. And I already have next year planned out. :O) The night of March 15th we had our Friday night family movie night and to get in the mood I made green popcorn. It was actually really good although the color and texture of the jello caramel mixture when I was pouring it was what I imagine goblin buggers to be like...sort of nasty. But it was fun!
Then after the movie Dad got home from being on call and me made us a leprechaun trap! We had a mini-pot of gold with a "rainbow" leading to it to trick our leprechaun. Bridger was very thoughtful on the things he'd be asking the leprechaun to grant for him. :O) We tided a string between the pot of gold and the wood stick holding up the "trap" so when he tried to drag the pot away the trap would fall on him. And we put bean bags on top to make sure he couldn't lift up the box and get out. In the morning...
In the morning the trap had been set off and when we lifted the trap we found a very tiny note from our leprechaun saying, in the best Irish tongue, that he was tricked but his magic was a wee bit stronger then our trickery and so he got away but because he was impressed with out trickery he left us some treasure of our own. The kids thought that was great.
Then the kids got to wear their St. Patty's clothes and we had a fun day shopping and going out to lunch.
That night we did our Green dinner. Green noddles, green squash, green apples,.... and for dessert rainbow jello.It was a very lucky day for us!

PS made me think of last year on St. Patty's day...we found out we'd go to Tucson... and we're still waiting! :) - can you tell just how good I am at being patient! I try. I really do.

little things I want to remember

I am predicting that there will come a day when I will not remember what my days were like this past year and I don't want to forget because while they can be crazy there are some really wonderful moments I get to enjoy too! I have felt so overwhelming grateful for my kids lately...I always have but lately with my baby not being such a baby anymore and how well things are going for us I sort of cant seem to keep it to myself. At times I feel a little lost with so much of my life up in the air but then I sort of step back and take a real look at what is going on in my life and it is hilarious, beautiful, blessed, and so worth it. You know how you sort of wait for that big golden family time to hit....the time that was your favorite when you were a kid? When life was full, happy, and just magical (basically life between preschool to before puberty hit! ;) Well I have realized this is it...these are my golden years with my kids, yes I have at least 18 more great years with them BUT those golden memories have started, they are happening now. And I intend to drink them up! - although sometimes it really requires me to take some big gulps its happening so fast! Anyways, here are some cute pictures, funny happenings, and favorite rituals/routines that I cherish. :O)

We don't have a bus so I drive Bridger to school. Most the time I don't have all the kids ready for the day in time to get Bridger to school especially Genevieve because she usually requires a bath after her breakfast extravaganza. So this has become her drive Bridger to school outfit! Isn't it too cute?!?! She came up with it all by herself. And now when she sees that I'm getting Bridger all ready to go out the door she grabs her robe and drags it to me all giggles and smiles that she gets to put it on and get out of the house. It's adorable! (plus isn't she pretty? her round doll eyes and her tiny button nose...she's so beautiful to me! I cant wait to see her all grown up. She''ll still be such a sparkler. - that bottom left one is a classic!

I thought this was hilarious. So it was cold and it looked like rain when the kids found a box of sidewalk chalk...they wanted to use it outside to play hop-scotch...I had this brilliant idea that we should just draw it on the carpet. I thought I was the funnest mom ever! Until I got the call that the people who are buying are house wanted to stop by in two hours and make sure they still wanted to buy our house! Ahhhh! Suddenly my brilliant idea didn't seem so brilliant! When they arrived that got to enjoy the squishy, wet, and very clean carpet I had to clean over and over again! Ha! Wont be doing that again!

I LOVE the way Ben talks...he has the cutest little accent. I am not sure where he got it but he says things like, "I just luv ya Mom." - with a little drawl at the end of Mom...its maybe a little cowboy-ish or something. Anyways the cute little things he says and his exaggerated expressions are my favorite. he's adorable.

Bridger is so dramatic and entertaining! and then when you throw in his sweet heart it is such a roller coaster to hang out with him. I love dropping him off at school. He gets really sweet. I open our tank door to our van while Genevieve is excitedly showing of her skill in waving good bye in the back ground and Bridger looks me in the eyes and I give him a big hug and a kiss on the forehead and he squeezes me super tight and then he waits for me to say, "I love you bud, have a good day and I'll see you after lunch!" and then he smiles huge and as he starts skipping-running through the gates he shouts, "Okay mom! I love you too and have a good day! I'll see you after lunch!" and the way he says, "See you after lunch" he sort of sparkles like he loves the anticipation of that reunion and then I watch him as he is using all the strength his little 6 year old body can muster to open the giant heavy door into school with his big backpack hanging all lopsided as he does. oh, my heart burst. Its adorable.

And Miss Angeli...she surprises me with these sweet little acts she does all day long. Like when Ben was crying when he couldn't find his "little blue horse daddy painted for me!" because I had packed it away for the move and then Angeli came to me and said "Mom Ben is sad so I will help him be happy cause I know he likes to play with his robot guy." and she took him by the hand and said, "come on Ben. I have a game for you to play with me. Here you go, here is your robot guy, your favorite guy...." And then Ben is happy again and all is right with the world. She is an angel girl and is an adorable one to boot!

But when Catrina, her best friend, comes over (like she does everyday) they sometimes get in these fights. Oh, My! Girl fights are so different then boy fights! The drama is hilarious. One day I had Angeli in the back of the house sitting in my bathroom her arms folded and her legs crossed looking anywhere but at me and she was not going to say sorry! and then little Catrina was sitting on our front steps in the same posture and she was not going to say sorry either! It took like 30 minutes to get them in the same room and to get them to say they were sorry and once they did that they hugged and giggled and where all like "Oh, I have to show you my new van I got for my doll house!" "really wow! i want to see it!" and skipping off to play! It was hilarious drama coming from a 4 and 5 year old!

When Stewart walks in the door Genevieve gets so excited. She does her chubby little walk/run to him shouting "Daddeee! Daddeee!" in the most girly excited baby voice you can think of and she grabs his legs and hugs him so tight and waits for him to sweep her up in his arms. Its one of my favorite times of the day.

Dancing is big at our house. My girls love it. My boys usually turn it more into a display of action figure poses, especially Ben, but my girls love to twirl (yes, even Genvieve likes to twirl!) and jump and anything from pretty to out right silly. They put in their CD's and rock out. I love watching them and I even join in too! :O)

The other day Bridger would not go to sleep! (it is extra bad since lovely day-light savings! hate day light savings. I Love that they don't do it in AZ) It was late and Stewart was so tired and we heard these crashes coming from his room....when we went in there Bridger was so excited. He was making bombs. He was building bombs with his legos, making "rounds" of legos and then filling them with tons of tiny pieces of toys and junk then closing them up and throwing them and watching the huge explosion of toys and legos burst around his room. I thought Stewart was going to lose his temper but he surprised me, he was really impressed and was like "hey we'll do this tomorrow! But lets go to bed first." I loved that.

The other night, as I often like to do, I started to draw out my dream house...you know floor plan and stuff. I wanted to show it to Stewart and Bridger wanted in on the action. He was so excited about it. He asked if he could keep it. Since then he has started drawing his own floor plans and dream houses. He wants a slide from his room down to the play ground the pool. :O)

Genevieve loves to copy us - and the dogs too! I was watching her one day and she watched the dogs go over to their water bowl and drink the water up with their tongues. And then she got down on all fours and crawled over to the bowl and was about 1/4 inch away from licking up herself some water when I grabbed her! It was pretty funny and disgusting. I have to keep an eye on her or else she goes and licks up doggy water for herself! Ahhh! :O)

Benjamin loves tiny things. and he loves to own things. I found a bee bee the other day and gave it to him. he has been carrying it around for days! And he keeps asking "is this mine mommy?" When I answer in the affirmative he is so delighted, "It's MINE!" Thank you Mommy!" then he runs to tell the whole house, "Its Mine guys! Guys, its My Bee bee!" Poor guy really must need some "BEN only" space in our next house!

And then today I convinced Stewart to stop by the counseling center where Angie goes on his way to noon-conference and it was too cute to watch my Doctor in his white coat get out of his car and walk over to me his eyes all sparkling and what I loved was that with a little wink I got my man to blush! :O) Then we sent him off with some kisses and hugs from his little bunch of rascals and his ridiculous wife. It was just fun......I love that I can make him blush. Ha!

Candy Factory

We went to a candy factory here in Reno for a tour. It was fun and yummy. It is this tiny factory but I think the kids enjoyed seeing how candy is made. We were sad Stew couldn't come. He had the day off but then they offered him Sunday instead and so he took it so he could actually make it to church this month! :O) Good man. Plus, then I had an excuse to buy lots of candy for him to try too! ;)

Check out their CANDY. I think their "sunbursts" are really addictive...and so much more healthy then just plane old M&Ms since they have the sunflower seeds in the middle. Their choclate rocks look really real...its a bit unerving to eat them...you really are afriad you might break teeth when you throw them in your mouth. The chcolate covered corn nuts are delish! Salty sweet yummyness. Plus they sell them with natural food coloring so I really like that. I think I may buy these instead of M&Ms from now on since the factory is really close and I can get them cheap at the factory store.

Here are our cute pictures...We totally rocked the hair nets!

Cousin Luke's Flat Stanly

Last month Bridger's cousin Luke sent him a Flat Stanly. So we gave him something to share with his class. We spent a fun day in downtown Reno, it was so fun it made me wonder why we don't do it more often! Bridger called the Flat Stanly smushed Luke which was pretty funny as we carried around "Smushed Luke" with us all day. I took some pictures to make it interesting for Luke to share. You could even play "Where's Stanly?" with these pics! :O)

To cover all our bases we headed to the kids museum that is not only based on science and art discovery but also about Northern Nevada history and geography.

Picture representing our location
Air Planes are important in Reno Because of the annul Reno Air Races
There are lots of caves and rocks in Reno and Northern Nevada. And where there are rocks and caves there is...Mining!
Mining is what put Reno on the map. It was a wild west city built on mining for Silver and gold. Even today There is still lots of active mines. We still mine the most silver then any other state.
And where there were wild west cities built on mining there was gambling. But unlike most other States in America Nevada never made gambling illegal. So, for better or worse, it is still one of our strongest industries. ( I left out the legal brothels!) :O) Out door activities are really popular here. Being so close to the beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountains there is lots of camping, skiing, hiking, boating, biking, rock climbing,....EVERYTHING out doors!

We even taught Stanly about our Water system...clouds, Lake Tahoe, snow melt, Truckee river, Lake Pyramid,....Flat Stanly and Bridger in front of Reno's famous sign, "Biggest Little City in the World" on historic Virgina streetAnd then we were plane starving and so we walked around the down town district seeing the pretty river and stopping at a popular ice cream shop with fun flavored ice cream. Yum!

There you have it! My fourth grade report on Reno! :O)

Spiritually Fed

The past two weeks I have been really spiritually fed. It has been such a remarkable experience. It was cap-stoned by the general Board Young Women President Sister Dalton, the Second Counselor in the Relief Society Sister Thompson, and the Second Counselor in the Primary General Presidency Sister Esplin, coming to Reno holding a special women's conference/training and then a young women training which I was able to attend being in our ward's young women's presidency.

It was an experience I will remember all my life. The spirit those women brought was palpable. It was one of the most sacred meetings I have ever been in. As we listened to these hilarious, down to earth, inspired women instruct us on the Lord's errand we were so edified. The Love of our Savior for his daughters was so strong. At the close of that meeting as we sang the closing song I looked around and swear we were all glowing. It was like the vale became a little thinner and I could see everyone's divine nature just bursting out from themselves. It was life changing.

I have been on such a spiritual journey lately...I have never been tutorted by the Lord in such a literal on-going way before. It has been like everyday I do my scripture study He has had a lesson preared for me. I have been learning so much and my life perspective is expanding and is broader, more eternal and with the sweet sisters coming it was just cemented in me. Every thing they shared was exactly what I have been taught by the spirit the past weeks. It was such a testament to me that God is real. The Church is true. That this, This life, This PLAN is happening. We are eternal beings. We are truly the Children of God. I have always known that but to have the spirit bare witness of it to me so strongly like that was an exhilarating, sacred experience. It strikes me that some of the most "real" undeniable experiences of my life are those that happen with the spirit...there is no proof, there isn't a grand outward display, its just the power of the Holy Ghost testifying to me. I am SO excited for conference!

My heart is full. My faith is brighter. And I feel so much awe, love, and gratitude for my Savior and Heavenly Father. Life is so glorious.