2010 - A Fantastic Year

Here are photos and videos from some of the fun we had in December ... mouse over and click play for the videos.



At the close of 2010, we feel good. It has been a wonderful year full of change and busy-ness. Right now, we are just ending the holiday break. We had a lot of fun with family in town. There were many a family gatherings, games, snow-storms, and over-eating opportunities. We managed to go sledding and - for the first time ever with the kids - ice skating (the girls really loved both, and were champs at skating). We also celebrated the pregnancies of Amber and Mandy with a girl's night. Jen told us about the Navajo tradition of a "Blessing Way", which I will incorporate into all future baby showers. Amid all of this, we were remodeling our home. We ripped out a bedroom on the main floor to open up the main room. It's a construction zone, but luckily we spent the majority of the holiday at my mom's house.

We are now waiting to hear about whether or not we will be moving to Asia in the late summer or early fall. Until then, Olivia will go back to BRCS in kindergarten, singing in Cache Children's Choir, dancing at the Bullen's Center, and who knows what else. Ruby will go back to Union Preschool and dancing with her sister. Sonoma will inevitably learn to crawl, walk, and talk amid other things, forcing me to re-baby-proof the house. I will go back to teaching at USU. Adam will continue to keep his nose glued to the computer at Advent Creative. The new year promises uncertainty, adventure, and fun. I am genuinely excited. Despite challenges that come with a recession/struggling economy, poor housing market, three small children, intermittent poor health, bills, sub-zero winter weather, and whatever comes, life is amazing. I am so happy. I feel like the luckiest person alive. I am learning and experiencing so much all the time. I feel it a privilege to participate in this round of existence. So, 2011, welcome.

Just Be. Fun Run. Girl Power.

This whirlwind week began in normal whirlwind fashion. The girls and I keep busy running from school to work/babysitter to choir (for Viv) to dance (for Viv and Ru), and to a number for other miscellaneous things.
It is difficult to know how to balance all of the good opportunities we are blessed to choose from in life. On the one hand, we want our children to benefit from the many options out there – so many extra-curricular activities. On the other hand, they are still so young, and life will only get busier and busier. They need time to just be, and to enjoy downtime to discover who they are.

That being said, we are trying to expose our children to activities/lessons that we believe they are interested in. Olivia (5) has tried soccer and gymnastics. She is now trying dance and singing. Ruby (3) is just starting out with dancing. Next we may try rock climbing, swimming, and piano. Who knows where their real passions lie, and where they will excel. I think there is a reason why there are financial and time constraints on the amount of activities that we can try at a time. So, we are just doing the best that we can and feeling things out.

On another note, we had the opportunity to participate in an event celebrating International Day of Peace. It was Sonoma’s first peace vigil, and appropriately, she slept peacefully through the whole thing.
The next day (Saturday) we got up and went to a 1 mile fun run race to benefit an old friend of mine, Christina McEvoy. She has been diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma cancer. She has two young boys. Her husband Eric was a good friend of mine in high school. I was explaining all of this to my daughters (about why and for whom we were going to run). They were very serious, and then all on their own, suggested that they donate some money from their piggy banks. I was so touched by their thoughtfulness. It was so sweet to watch them bring their bank to the race, dump out some change, and take it to my friend, Eric (Christina stayed home because she didn’t feel well). If anyone reading this post would like to help them out, or run in the upcoming race for her in Kaysville, or would simply like to know more, visit http://www.iwillwinthisfight.com/ (Incidentally, it was the first race for all three of our girls – and for me, now that I think about it. They were troopers! We will definitely do more in the future… Kaysville).

Finally, I had the opportunity to go with my mom and sisters (and Sonoma and Bailee) to the General Relief Society Conference in SLC last night. We rode the Frontrunner from Ogden, then took Trax into downtown. We ate at my new favorite restaurant in SLC: One World Café (http://www.oneworldeverybodyeats.com/). The food was delicious and organic and local. More than that, their philosophy is amazing. I highly recommend that you check them out and go eat there.

After that, we headed to the Conference Center. I sat in a theatre room away from the crowd because that’s where they sent all the nursing moms (you can’t have crying babies in a room where a live broadcast is happening). It was a good conference. I really liked the prophet’s talk about not judging. My favorite part of the meeting was when Julie Beck announced an upcoming book about the history of Relief Society. In my adulthood, I have discovered women like Emmaline B. Wells (among others) and studied them. For a long time I was confused and disappointed by the fact that people in the church don’t learn about the women in the early church at church (aside from brief mentions of Emma and Lucy Mack Smith and Eliza Snow). So, woohoo! Now those women will be much more commonplace in church settings, and young women will have more female role models to look to. Yea.

Everything Matters

I've recently been listening to a brilliant podcast series called "Design Matters" by Debbie Millman. Debbie is a designer who interviews some of the greatest minds in the design industry. But before each interview she gives a monologue about a recent experience in her life. The experience usually seems very insignificant, but she finds profound meaning in any and every experience in life. Where most of us dig for diamonds among the coal of the everyday life, she seems to recognize the unforeseeable value of every single experience.

I'd love to change my perspective ... to see life for what it really is rather than pass it off as uninteresting, unimportant or insubstantial. I believe more than ever that every event, every conversation, and every experience in life has far more meaning than we give it credit for. I'll do all I can to start seeing with this new perspective.

And now, stepping back into the superficial updates ... as there's rarely enough time to write with the heart and thought that I'd like.

Olivia has started kindergarten at Bear River Charter School and seems to sincerely enjoy it. Ruby is doing her last year of Union bilingual preschool and should be fluent at this point! Sonoma is 4 months today and is realizing that she has vocal chords ... especially during quiet times at church :) She's adorable and growing faster than her hand-me-downs can handle.

Apart from that, our garden is giving us more tomatoes and zucchini than we can handle ... and the fall is always a fantastic time for local whole foods. We've been making mango leather, zucchini brownies and fresh salsa. Such a stellar season for food!

Here are a few photos from the past few weeks.

103 Photos and a few words of summary...

So, we sort of fell off of the blog-wagon for a few weeks. What can we say? It’s summer time and life with three kids takes getting used to! This week’s update will have to be a summary of those we missed.

We had the opportunity to go up to Myrna Redd’s cabin in Bear Lake for a few days. It was wonderful to spend time with family and friends up there. It was especially nice to see Andy and Erin Buteau and their children who were visiting from London (their kids have the CUTEST little accents).

Olivia turned five! It’s hard to believe that she is that old. It’s hard to believe that we were in Thailand that long ago, but yes, it has been five years. She is so fun to have around and we learn so much from her every day. She is excited about kindergarten. She loves princesses, pink, and all things girly. She loves sugar more than any of those things, but thankfully, she is very good at eating vegetables as well. She is a very loving big sister. She and Ruby love to sing and be either “mommy and baby” or “rock n’ roll girls” together.

Ruby's 3rd also happened in May...and we neglected to mention it. Sorry, Ruby! She's got to be the most adorable 3-year-old in the history of the world! She's pleasant, easy, sympathetic, (usually) obedient, and loves just about anyone who will talk to her. She's a fantastic little sister for Olivia and a loving and helpful big sister to Sonoma. What a gem (pun intended).

This month my sister Kristen and her family moved to Provo so that Marshall could attend law school at BYU. I got to go down for a couple of days and help them move in. Wish them luck! Also, my brother Clay and his wife moved to Salt Lake City so that he could work full time for the non-profit organization Fight the New Drug. Both families will be sorely missed here in Cache Valley.

In other news, we found a wonderful live-in babysitter named Bailee who will be with us for a while. We are very excited about her and love having her around. She is a Junior at USU majoring in special education.

Other than that, we’ve just been having a ton of fun and staying very busy this summer! Enjoy the photos ... we're using Picasa so the viewing and uploading is easier. You can watch the slideshow above, or click here for all of them.

Sonoma & Shrimp

Sonoma is just over two weeks old now. She seems to inherently know what newborns are supposed to do–eat, poop, and sleep. She’s doing all 3 of them far more often than us old folk, and is thus causing some scheduling issues we really need to talk to her about. Generally she’s a very good baby. Cuddly, quiet (for the most part), and still sleeps a lot. We think we’ll keep ‘er. More pics below.

Ruby and Olivia had their 3rd semesteral (a new word) preschool graduation at Union Preschool. Olivia’s last since she’ll be starting kindergarten this fall. Crazy. 

Ruby turned 3 this past week. Her annual checkup with her pediatrician revealed that she’s in the 5th percentile for height. I guess we need to get her off of my diet of bark and mulch and let her eat “real” food! Honestly, we’re not sure why she’s such a cute little shrimp, but maybe we’ll let her stay up in the evening to watch the giants playing at the NBA playoffs ... that should help, I’m sure. 

This weekend we’re at Sam and Kristen’s in Alpine. Sam has recently taken up painting following a 15+ year dry spell (basically since high school). We’re blown away at his ability to throw together such impressive art in such short time, and as rusty as he is!

I made my own attempt. I have far less experience or raw painting talent–but maybe with another 10 years, I can get to that level. 
Also, my sister-in-law Kristen went way overboard (oh how we love her) before our arrival and created a princess castle in the area under the stairs and painted big murals on the walls. Amazing! The girls loooooved it. Pics below.

Recipe of the week: 

Raspberry Banana Walnut French Toast

5 slices whole wheat breat

1/2 c. fresh raspberries

1 banana

1/4 c. walnut bits

1 T. honey

This is pretty simple, make the french toast as you usually do (with whole wheat bread), throw a 1/2 c. of raspberries and one banana and 1/4 c. of walnut bits into a bowl and smash together with a fork. Add 1 T of honey and smother the top of the french toast. Yum!

I'll put my painting first, so things improve from the top down! :)

 by Sam Smith

 by Sam Smith

 by Sam Smith

 by Sam Smith

Little Sonoma Arrives

Baby Sonoma arrived on May 12th at 6:58pm after 16 hours of labor (15 of which were passed at home, the last hour in the hospital). She weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces, was 19 ½ inches long, and came out with very dark hair. I did it naturally for the first time, and am still in shock that I was able to do it! It was such an awesome experience in every sense of the word, including awesomely painful and awesomely glorious!

Since being home I have been so incredibly grateful for the out-pouring of support, love, and kindness from the giant network of friends and family that surround us. I do not take it lightly how much help we have at our fingertips. The girls have been showered with attention and love from family members who have taken them for a few hours here and there each day. We have been brought food and gifts from a number of people. My mom has come and stayed with us each night to help with Sonoma so that we could get some sleep. So many people have called to show their love as well. I have felt carried through the last few days and I am feeling great so far. I feel as though I am healing quickly, and that Sonoma is doing well. Life is so great. And, although it may be hard to believe, I am very grateful that I live in Logan, Utah right now.

One thing I have to include is what Ruby said the first time she saw me and Sonoma after getting home from the hospital. She looked at the baby, then looked and me and my stomach and said, “One baby came out.” I still look pregnant, obviously. How cute coming from the mouth of an almost 3 year old. Both Olivia and Ruby have been sooo cute with Sonoma. They are anxious to see her, touch her, and to help bring her things like blankets, wet wipes, toys, diapers, and anything else they can think of. They want to be involved and hold her all the time. It has been fun to watch their reaction to her.