My Sorcerer's Apprentice

So this little girly of mine is a doll. She is bubbling with personality. She LOVES life. EVERYTHING is worth shouting about in unrestrained glee - her nursery leaders very tactfully asked me to work on that with her. I said I'd try but not to hold their breath. :O) But everyone at church , even her noise sensitive nursery leaders, call her the happy baby. They see her waving as she skips down the halls and say,  "Oh, its the happy baby! Hello!"  Having her around is like living with a cheerleader promoting life in the cutest way possible. But heavens she gets into the worst messes you can imagine. I seriously cant let her out of sight without some sort of negative consequence.

 I had just gone to the bathroom and there she was standing in my now sopping wet kitchen floor so happy to have found such a great chore to do.  I thought that it was just too fitting that she is my little "Sorcerer's Apprentice!"

Here are more examples - Today she wanted to play outside with the pups. So I let her do her thing. Then I heard our latch gate click closed. I hurried outside called for her and saw that she and dogs were gone. She had figured out how to open that blasted gate. I hurried out the gate and there she was chasing the dogs out into the street calling "Chocooooo! Chocoooooo!" and smiling and laughing like she was having the time of her life and feeling very good about herself for being so responsible for helping get the doggies back. I grabbed her up and lucky for me my dogs at least come 80% of the time when I call and they came running back to me. So thank heavens the pool gate is way too high for her, but still now I cant let her into the back yard without supervision. darn.

Everyday there are at least three such things that happen especially now that she has realized that she can carry the little bathroom stool all over the house to help her get to those hard to reach things. Like she got into my super expensive face products that I bought a huge stock of before we left Reno since I wouldn't be able to get them without having to have them shipped and what do you know, she was covered head to toe in about $100 of beauty products. fabulous.

Or climbing up to get into my jewelery box, or up into the sink and flooding the kitchen counter tops, or into the cupboard and eating spoonfuls of sugar and spreading it all over the kitchen, or getting out all the tooth brushes and squeezing an entire bottle of toothpaste on them,.....She is darling but My oh, My! She is a mess superstar. :O)

 

And here are some other pictures I got of her. I was running late, the kids and I were supposed to have left for my sister's house who lives 2 hours away, 2 hours before but we weren't gone yet. I had finally gotten the kids all ready, packed all their stuff for the long weekend, they even had their shoes on, and then I ran into my room to brush my hair, brush my teeth, and throw my last things into my bag. Then I come out and there she is sitting on the floor with a giant bottle of Nutella in her hands feeding herself and the dogs.

Well, I had two choices: freak out or laugh. So I laughed and grabbed my camera so when she is older I can show her the sort of little stunts she'd pull on me. :) And then I said a prayer that the dogs wouldn't die, plopped the little chocolate girl into the bath and threw her clothes and shoes into the washer (since she tried to help me get them off with her super clean hands) and then I had to clean out the dogs' kennel, and mop the floor, wipe the walls down, clean the lamp that was decorated with Nutella oil-ness, and leave a note to Stewart telling him he had to wash the curtains while I was away before they were totally stained by her lovely chocolate hand prints...we were later then late, and she had no shoes to wear. But she was happy! :O) That Nutella was good stuff.

 

We love this girl but it will be sort of nice when she's four. :O)

Want to remember

Tonight Angeli was sad. After an hour of encouragement (girls are so much more complicated then boys)

She finally told me that she felt like I didn't love her as much as I loved bridger and Ben because she saw me cuddeling with them during scripture time.....which is funny because I was really just trying to keep them from being wild but sometimes being good gets you overlooked and she felt that. I was so glad that I felt guided in giving her an answer she could really feel good about. I told her that we have magic hearts. I said we have magic hearts because we are children of god. I said because we have hearts like heavenly father's our hearts have the ability to grow. We don't have to divide our love because the more people we love the bigger our heart grows....and it can grow and grow forever. We talked about how her love and heart had grown when Benjamin was born, and then when Genevieve was born. I told her that my heart grows with each of my babies and friends I make. I told her my loving someone else doesn't mean I love her less...it doesn't take away from my love for her. She seemed to feel so much peace after our talk. It's such a hard thing in larger families. I wish I could meet all their needs all the time but I can't cuddle them all at the same time...they try and make me...but I just can't. I hope I don't neglect their most important needs. But today I am glad I got to express to her how she is loved by her mommy. I am so grateful the Holy Ghost helped me comfort her. And I'm so grateful for our magic, god-like hearts. :-)

Daddy Daughter Campout

Last month our Stake had a daddy daughter camp out at the church owned campground up Sabino Canyon. Angeli and Stewart were really excited, Stewart would not take Genevieve along - she's a wild one these days. I could just imagine Stewart trying to put the tent together and her just happily walking to the edge of the mountain. So I agreed with his refusal. They had a really great time together and when they were gone the boys kept telling me how much they missed Angeli. I realized they really don't spend very much time apart from each other. I thought that was sweet. The boys, GV, and I had a  movie night and made root-beer floats with our very own homemade ice cream so we wouldn't feel like we were missing out too much. We had a good time too, even though we missed them.

I gave him strict instructions to take lots of pictures and he did! I was so pleased. :O) They said their favorite part was climbing on the rocks on their way down the mountain.

Enjoy Stewart's many pictures he took of himself and our cutie-pie. :O)

When they first got there they were surprised at how they had driven from complete dessert to an ever green forest in an hours time. And it was chiller then they thought it would be. Poor Angie was pretty cold. 

 

  

 

Book Club With Myself!

Okay I am starting a book club with myself. I have to admit reading is something I enjoy but I don't crave and I sort of hate sitting still to read but I decided there are just too many books piling up on my list of must reads that I need to make it a bigger priority. I thought about starting a book club but honestly I hate reading books I don't want to read so.... I am going to be super lame and do my own - I know how anti-social of me. Every month I will set out to read a book and then I will post a review on my blog. The first book is a book given to me by the author herself. I am almost done with it. i have enjoy it and a really quick easy read. The next I think will be a book my mom bought me about parenting kids with ADHD and ADD. Need more advice in that department and it has awesome reviews. So There that is my goal until I get through my stack of books...I have few near death experiences I want to read, then there is a book about Tucson family history that my father-in-law is currently reading that I would love to read through too, and then a book my girlfriend recommended called Queen Bee's and Wannabees which sounds like a good examination of girl's relationships during the school years  which I hope will help me parent Angeli and Genevi in their school years because I think I need some training in that department!....I hope I make some progress on my list!

Fun Things to do While we Live in Tucson

So I've been realizing how hard it is to get family fun in with all the school, church, and work stuff we have going on so I wanted to make a list of some of the possible of things I want to do while we live here in Tucson and maybe just maybe we'll be able to fit most of it in.

The Biosphere - How cool would that be to go to the world famous biosphere!  http://www.b2science.org/

AZ Science Center - Sounds really fun and educational! http://azscience.org/

Renaissance Festival - Ha ha! Let the inner nerd out! looks fabulous. Held in February - March. http://www.royalfaires.com/arizona/

State Parks - Okay this is my all time favorite thing to do....be out in nature! There are so many great hikes and camping trips we could do! Love to dream about!  AZStateParks.com

Grand Canyon - I want to wait until the kids are grown up enough that its not the most frightening thing ever to have them near giant cliffs but we must do this! The kids get a fall break and so I am already planning our trips we'll be doing on our next 4 fall breaks...the best time of year for a vacation without huge crowds at places like Disneyland, sea world, and yes the grand canyon! http://www.thecanyon.com/

Rocky Point Mexico - I  have heard great things about this beach town in Mexico. A lot of families in our ward who own vacations homes there and I want to go! I am excited because there is a volcano-ish thing close by where you can see real lava! Oh, my gosh how cool would that be for the kids to see! Sometimes the families in our ward give good deals at renting their houses out. Yes please! RockyPointMexico

Children's' Museum of Tucson- I am excited to check this out. i have some free passes and I think if we love it we'll have to buy a family pass for the year. http://www.childrensmuseumtucson.org/

Broadway in Tucson - I've only been to one real Broadway show and I'd love to go more. This year they have some shows I'd be excited to see. I'd love to take the kids to see stomp or the Blue Man group...I know too expensive but woudl 'd they love that!?!?! http://www.broadwayintucson.com/

Santa Crus County Fair - This is a maybe. But a country fair sounds so fun runs through September. sonoitafairgrounds.com

Sea Life Arizona - This sounds really fun to me...I'd rather go to San Diego just a 4-5 hour drive away but this way we wouldn't have a huge admission ticket and a hotel too. visitsealife.com/Arizona

Tolmachoff Farms - sounds like a great visitor farm where you can pick your own produce, go to the petting Zoo, have tours, and buy homemade treats. Their Pumpkin days, and watermelon days sound really fun. tolmachoff-farms.com

Tucson Botanical Gardens and "Butterfly Magic" - I think my kids would really enjoy the butterflies and I really love plants! They even have a rain forest section. How fun.  http://www.tucsonbotanical.org/

Tucson Zoo- Yay! I finally live by a zoo! I don't think its out of this world but I think it will be nice enough and I am really excited to take the kids we were going to go today but my girl friend has to cancel and I am actually feeling pretty sick so another time...but I am excited to go someday! http://www.tucsonzoo.org/

Davis-Monthan Air Force Base - They have a grave yard of retired planes that I hear is pretty cool for little people and grown up people too  to check out. I think that would be a fun afternoon activity one of these days. 

Wild West - Being in the heart of the WILD WEST they have an abundance of railroad towns, gold mining, and horse tours and such that I think the family would enjoy even if its not my favorite thing to do...boys love theri train rides! I need to research which ones are the best to go to.

Family History - I sort of want to spend several Family Home Evenings going to historical sights that have family history significance to us since Stewart was named after his great grandfather who helped settle Tucson and was a very prominent figure here. Some ward members have told me about some great places to check out (brandi fenton park) so I need to plan it all out and have some fun trips and story telling with the kids.

New blog

Hey you all! I am starting a new blog and maybe I'll be retiring this one. Blogging is a dying obsession of my mothering generation but I am still an avid fan so I will probably keep it up forever. But I felt I wanted a fresh start. Honestly, I am not sure if anyone ever reads this blog besides my dear mother and father and myself but if for nothing else its worth it to me so if you do actually read this and you want to follow me on my new blog I will post it's new address as soon as I get the pictures I want for it taken and all edited so they can be posted. I warn you its going to be churchy, but its sincerely me and my heart. Its what I want people to k now about me if nothing else, and most importantly what I want my children to know about their mother's heart. So there that's it. I just wanted to announce that. I am excited about it. Churchy blogging here I come. ;) 

Starting School

The school year started so soon this year, the 2nd of August! I could hardly believe that I'd have half of my kids going off to school all day long. I was excited and a little nervous to be getting established into a new school and I knew the kids were feeling the same way. The school the kids are in is rated as an A+ school and I have been so impressed with the teachers and staff there. They are so kind, smart, helpful, and organized. I am so grateful to be in the situation we are in here in Tucson we really have been placed in the best place for our family. It will; be great to watch us grow into it more and more.

The day before school started they had a "meet the teacher day" where we found out who the kids teachers were and got to tour the classrooms, and fill out lots of paper work of course.  I feel like both Angeli and Bridger were blessed with getting the best teachers for them. I signed up to work as one of the room moms  for each class which I am excited about. I hope its not too much but I am really looking forward to getting to know their teachers and to get to help in the class and the planning. I love my planning. ;O)

The next day was the start of school and it was a bit surreal. I didn't feel too ready ...like little silly things for example, I wasn't sure what they should wear or anything like that, which usually I'd like to have that all planned out but whatever! They got to pick it out themselves out of what was clean. :O) We live so close to their school that it really doesn't make sense to do anything other then walk to school so every morning and afternoon that's what we are doing, walking in the blistering heat to and from school. :O) - its hot at 2:40pm!

When they came home and we asked them how it went Angeli declared that she loves "everything" about school and Bridger said he loves "nothing" about school. He thinks its so boring and she thinks everything is so fun. :O) The difference between boys and girls I guess! I hope they can make friends. They were sad they cant eat together at lunch or play together at recess but I think it is good for them to branch out and make friends of their own. I am so proud of them for doing hard things. For Angeli overcoming her anxiety of new scary things is such a huge thing and Bridger its all about getting over the hard work of school. :O) I tell them daily "you can do hard things!". So anyways, we were late for the first day!!!! So the only pictures I got were on our way to school. I miscalculated how much time it would take to get everyone out the door, get the "littles" in the stroller, all of us off and walking....plus the campus was so crowded it was a bit crazy. So these are the only pictures I got. Bummer, but heck they are so cute  who needs fifty pictures anyways! ;) I love them!

I sure missed them that first day. The house was so quiet! I know things will pick up really quickly here soon so I am going to try and take advantage of every "quiet" moments I get! 

Happy 18 Months My Little Perfect!

I call her my perfect because I think she is just that. :O) I think that of all my kids but I am not sure I could call them all the same word...it'd get confusing for them. ;)

 My BABY is now a year and a half old. She is less and less of a baby all the time. We all adore her. I think her brothers and sister more then ever now that she plays with them quite a bit. She does silly things that keep us giggling all the time. The thing about her and especially at this age is the amount of joy she radiates. You cant be sad or grumpy when Genevieve is around. You just cant. She walks up to you just overflowing with cuteness and joy...she is adorable. She is confident, obedient, curious, smart, happy, a consistent mommy's girl, she LOVES to eat and would eat constantly all day long if I let her, she loves to swim and run and jump and she loves music and dancing. Her wave is the cutest thing you have ever seen - seriously my favorite thing she does. she loves kids and if she sees someone close to her size she immediately tries to be friends with them. I think we might have a social butterfly on our hands. When she hears music she lights up like a firefly. She LOVES babies: real and dolls. I love watching her reaction when we see a baby at the store. I love how she gets the little doll stroller ready with a baby doll buckled in and everything and pushes her baby all over the house coming to each of us to show us her baby. She loves shoes and wearing dresses...I never have to wrestle her into clothes when its a pretty dress and never shoes...she loves shoes. She gives really sweet cuddles and she leans forward not to give a kiss but to get one....99% of the time she expects a kiss and doesn't really think she should have to give them in return so if you get a kiss from her its a big deal. She gave one to me the other day it was literally and figuratively sweet as her mouth was covered with fruit-loop crumbs. I loved it no matter how sticky it was. ;) She is shy of strangers but quickly her curiosity over shadows her shyness and she is just as cute as can be and as BUSY. Did I mention how BUSY she is? Well she is very busy. :O) When I am not calling her Perfect I might be calling her "My Mischief Maker" or "My Tornado" because a path of destruction, I mean exploring and play, ;)  follows behind her at all times. Its getting to the point where I cant really let her play without my supervision...don't love that part too much. At least she is cute to watch and play with. ;)

She is not talking very much in English but her "baby talk" is very developed. She has complete conversations with people with nothing being said in English. It worries me a little that she isn't using real words much but its still pretty adorable. Besides Ben all my kids were pretty slow talkers so we'll see how long it takes her to develop her speech, hopefully not too long because I want to hear more and more of her thoughts. With all her childlike cuteness there is a deep intellect to her, this maturity that is easy to miss with all her giggles and putting on my make up three times a day but its there and I want to hear her thoughts more fully to get to know that side of her a little more.

She loves doing little actions to songs so we'll sing the popcorn popping song or the itsy bitsy spider and she loves to do the movements with us. It is so cute how fun it is for her.  On Sundays she has to help lead the music...she loves music. She has been going to nursery for the past two weeks and loves it. The nursery leaders love her too because she is so happy and cute to have around. When we get to church she walks right over to the nursery room and wants to go to nursery as soon as we get there...needless to say sacrament meetings are a bit long for us these days. :)

Yesterday she threw her first real tantrum. I was a bit shocked. She kept climbing onto the counter/bar and grabbing handfuls of her brothers' and sister's cereal. She had a bowl for herself but she wanted theirs not hers. I kept putting her back in her chair and showing her the bowl for her. That's when she climbed back on top of the counter picked up her bowl and poured it out on the counter and then threw the bowl. She then proceeded to wave her hands in her spilled cereal frantically in defiance. I picked her up washed her off and set her down on the ground while I went to work cleaning up the mess...when the little rascal climbed back up the counter and plopped right down in the mess. I was getting aggravated. I told her firmly that she cant climb up on the counter and sit in milk. I cleaned her up yet again and set her down on the floor she was screaming as I set her on the ground and she marched over to our basket we put our shoes in and she pushed it out into the room and then pushed it over and started to scatter the shoes. At that point I was so shocked by her little tirade I couldn't help laughing. I guess she is stubborn and has a temper too!  You learn something new everyday.

This morning when I got back from my run Stewart and I were about to kneel for our morning prayer and I could hear her awake in her crib. I went and got her and she was just beaming and giggling and talking to us about little things we couldn't really understand and she knelt with us dragging her giant blanky and folded her arms so cute while we said prayers. Then she leaned forward for a kiss from me and then her daddy and beamed at us giggling. Stewart remarked that he was so glad we have her in our family because she is our little sunshine. And she really is.

I think one of  the best ways to capture her cuteness is in pictures so enjoy these cute pictures of my little perfect. I tried to have her sit still for them but she is not the type to sit still so these are action shots of the two of us going on a walk together....she's a doll. :O)  I am so glad she is my daughter. She keeps me smiling all day long,  she's a joy.

A Special Family Home Evening

This week we had a special family home evening that I wanted to share because the spirit was so strong and I felt really guided when I planned it and put it all together.

Last summer we took some really cute pictures of the kids outside the Reno temple and I had wanted to get them hung but with the move coming and our limited wall space as it was I decided to wait until we moved. So last week when I worked on my personal progress in divine nature I thought getting those pictures hung would be a really good value project for me to do. So the kids and I went to the store picked out nice frames, picked out our favorite pictures and then ordered prints. I felt inspired to hang along side the pictures the proclamation to the world. I wanted to do a family home evening centered around talking about why we were going to dedicate a whole wall to these pictures and the proclamation. I wanted to focus on how important the temple is and how real their divine nature is. as I pray and pondered about it it came to me what I could do.

I had the week before taught the kids in great detail about the plan of salvation and it was a really spiritual experience. At the end of the lesson I asked, "do you feel a special feeling inside? do you feel really happy and loved?" they are said they did. I told them that was the Holy Ghost telling them that what I had taught them was true, that they are children of God and this is his plan for us so that we can return to live with him again. Angeli came running up to me and gave me a big hug, Ben exclaimed, "I want to go to heaven!", and Bridger said, "Mom, do you know what the spirit is telling me? He  is telling me that I am a child of God and that Heavenly Father loves me." Then tears welded up in his eyes and I gave him a big hug. It was a really special moment for me and the kids.

So for this lesson I followed up with that and I told them that they are children of God and that because of that they are royalty! They are princes and princesses. They loved that idea. We then decorated crowns and put them on...very cute. Then I asked, But where is our castle? The kids took a couple guesses and they got it, the Temple! We talked about how it is like our castle that Heavenly Father has given us. We talked about the special ordinances that we do there and the kids LOVE the idea of being together forever as a family. It was fun to talk about how in the temple we promise to act like royalty and then Heavenly Father promises us that if we will act like a Son and daughter of God (Royalty) then we will inherit his kingdom and all that he has. That was such a fun way to illustrate that to the kids. We talked about how it was our family goal to act like royal children of God so that we can be together forever with our Father in Heaven and our Savior Jesus Christ. The spirit was so strong as each child expressed how much they wanted that too.

Then we hung the pictures up on the wall. We talked about the proclamation a little bit and how it tells us how to live like royalty as a family. It was such a great way to make the most of my personal progress, family home evening, and my home decorating. ;) I loved how the kids applied it, Angeli asked "Would royalty talk with bad words?" (which in our house is saying "poop" and other such words like that), to which everyone replied "No!". :O)  I hope that every time they stop to look at that wall they remember the things we talked about and have a renewed desire to be true to the royal and divine nature they have inherited from their Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother.

Snapshots of Life

These are just some random pictures of us and our lives I wanted to share without any special writing or description.

 First these are my kids all ready to go to church...aren't they beautiful? honestly that picture of Angeli sort of took my breath away when I saw it. she is an angel. And Ben's coloring is so handsome. and all their eyes! such a light blue and so clear. How did Stewart and I make such beautiful kids? Anyways, I am bias I am sure, but really they are so beautiful. And so grown up too.

 Then this is the view from the front of our house. To the west there was a coral sunset so everything has a peachy tint to it but I think it is really pretty. So different then I thought our view would be in my day dreams I had pictured years ago of our future but I think its so much better, its so cool that we live here. What an adventure for us.

Here are the kids being super heroes...They were running all over the house solving mysteries and saving the day. It was really cute to watch. Genevieve did her outfit all by herself. :) The kids dubbed her "Goggle Girl"! LOL

 My sister and her kids came to visit us for a little day trip from Phoenix. Angeli has been so excited that she will get to live closer to her cousin EDEN! they are too cute together. And then the cute toe heads....this is them trying to smile for the camera. LOL We are goign up there next week and we are super excited to see them again! 

Good Morning.

Its 7:30 in the morning. I just got back from a relaxing 50 minuet jog. I kissed the hubby good bye and now I'm laying on the trampoline under our big green tree in our back yard listening to the coos of doves and the chirps of little sparrows. I can hear a rooster calling out the morning and the faint nay of a horse from the stables on the other block of our neighborhood and with the kids sleeping in this morning I feel so blissful. Its fun to watch Choco hunt a fly that is annoying him.....life is so good. I didn't think Tucson would be like this but I am so glad it is. 

Life

Life is pretty normal now-a-days. Which is good. I don't really have any crazy fun plans for the summer - mostly because we are short on cash right now. Man, moving is even more expensive then I thought it would be and I was expecting it to hurt. I was thinking we might head to Cali for a week but not so much. So instead I am looking at the good in the days we have already playing out this summer. I also wanted to capture a little snap shot of our revamped lives here in Tucson and share a little of what we are learning and liking about this place.

The pool...I know we cant get over it. But we like it a lot. This is us swimming on the 4th after a big monsoon rain storm just went through.

Stewart's training. Oh, I cant even express how fun it was to have Stewart come home from his first day of Radiology and see him just beaming. I like few things as much as my husband's smile and knowing he is really happy. He loves it. First off, they gave him an Ipad, so how could he not like it? Plus all these gifts cards with credits to things like buying scrubs and all that jazz. Plus they told us he can start moonlighting as soon as he can get basic knowledge of nuro rad which is his first rotation so that is great. PLUS they will completely pay for all his licensing.  I think that is over $3000. Which is really good because we don't really have any money left over after the move. Thank heavens! Plus everyone is really nice. Lots of Mormon guys with families and the program is growing and they have hired on some really awesome new instructors that not only bring a huge new knowledge base but also lots of grants. So nice to be part of a thriving program that is family friendly and with great Doctors he can work along side with.

My running. So we live really close to miles and miles of trail running. Oh, what a tender mercy. I've been able to start running again in the mornings since Stew doesn't have to be at work until 8am this week so I get up early and get a run in and I love it. Not going really far but I'm at least going! :)

Cactus. Okay I don't love cactus but it is pretty cool. We have a a HUGE cactus in front of our house and the kids are super proud of it. When we drive around town they point out all the different types of Cactus. There are many different types.

Kids School. we walked to the school and I timed us. It took a grand total of 6 minuets. How nice will that be?!?!?!? love that.

Lizards. There are so many different types of lizards. There are these tiny ones, like two inches long, that run around so cutely. I love those ones.

The kids have been really grumpy lately and I was wondering what it was that was making them freak out so much when I got sick and realized they have all been sick too. We are all a little out of it...like super tired, have head colds, and hacking cough. its been a slow onset but I hope it will be a fast recovery. probably not but I can hope. :) 

Our ward. They are the nicest, down to earth people ever. We are always blessed to be in the best wards ever and this time is no different. We have been so impressed with how kind, helpful, on top of things, and fun they all are. It feels like coming home going to their ward. So happy!

Shopping. Living outside of town was nice but it is nice to live a little closer now. I love how we live in this neighborhood with houses spread out just enough so you feel like you have privacy and space but still close enough you don't feel like you are out in the county and we have these beautiful views of the mountains but then I can drive down the canyon for four minutes and there is everything I could ever want. Sweet.

Potential. I have a love hate relationship with potential. I am depressed if I cant see potential in the things around me BUT I have this weakness where I am very impatient in the wait time that is often required to reach full potential....I am referring to our house. I see so much decorating and design potential in our house but I have to be sensible and just tell myself, some day we will get to do something better with that room or that space  but that day is not today. Its hard for me. But I like to dream in the mean time. Almost every day I am showing Stewart a drawing of an idea I had for this porch or that porch or what have you. He is so good to try and care. :O)

"Mom School" - every week day I do mom school with the kids. It has been cute how much they love it and beg for it. We are working on everything and we have a little chart and we cover every little area each day. I have a section where I teach a little lesson on something that has to do with science or history (my favorite subjects) and yesterday was the history of Ireland and today was a lesson on bones, muscles, and our vascular system. Oh, I love teaching! We've been observing our caterpillar we found on our porch on moving day back in Reno and he has made his little cocoon....We think he'll be a moth. time will tell!

Routines. We sure love our routines around here. We have Morning chart, where they have a chart of things we need to do each morning: morning prayer, breakfast, take medicines and vitamins, clean up from breakfast, feed the pets, dressed, brush hair & teeth, make bed. They do really good at it with the proper application of nagging. ;) Then we also have a bed time chart: pick up house, jammies, brush teeth, family scriptures, stories, family prayers, tucked in bed and then personal prayers.

Watching Genevieve grow. She is in the cutest stage ever. she has such a fun little personality. She is such a busy little ray of sunshine. She keep us laughing all day long. She loves to walk on her tippy toes and rest her left hand on her hip and she looks too cute with her baby chub and her oh, so elegant walk mixed together. She is the cutest thing ever.

Swimming lessons. We found this awesome website that gives really great instructions for teaching swimming lessons by yourself, Its Uswim.com. We have been doing it with the kids and it have been really fun to see them take off. Bridger is getting really good, he swims like a little dolphin it is really cute watching him dive into the pool and touch the bottom 8 feet down and come up so proud of himself and Angeli is just a few steps behind him. Ben, I would not be surprised if he becomes a champion swimmer in high school - his cannon balls about the cutest things you have ever seen.  Plus we do water slide Olympics....I got a perfect 10 the other day for my tummy slide. ;)

Shedding. The dogs have been shedding like crazy. I have to sweep and vacuum like crazy to keep up with it. I want to give them a buzz but Stewart wont get on board with that. So I tell him he has to brush them daily. :)

Chocolate chips. They have to be kept in the refrigerator. If I keep them in my cupboard they are super soft...not totally melted but very soft. I think that is sort of interesting.

The monsoon season. It has been really fun so far. I was taking a nap yesterday when I woke up to the sound of crazy hard pouring rain. It was fun to go sit outside in our AZ room and just watch it pour down. I love that room. I cant wait till we have some furniture to put out there so we can utilize it more.

So those are the random little things about my life right now that I find interesting and fun.