My Baby No More...

We were watching Evan Almighty last night and the kids love to dance to the closing credits. It's the whole reason they watch the movie, because they will rewind and play that part at least 3 times before Eric and I tell them to stop! Brayden just goes nuts when the final song comes on - it's Everybody Dance Now by C and C Music Factory. And last night, watching the 3 younger kids dance to the music, I was struck by something monumental. My baby isn't a baby anymore! He'll be turning 3 in eight weeks, and I can't believe what a cute little boy he's grown into!

He loves to dress up... if it isn't a blue ninja turtle, it's batman, spiderman or a jedi.

He loves purple and will only drink from his purple sippy cups right now.

He loves Diego and Backyardigans and the Wonder Pets!

He loves to jump on the trampoline.

He loves to go the park (any park.....)

He loves to wrestle with his dad and his brothers.

He loves to play stuffed animals with Megan.

He loves to go in Megan's room while she's at school and play with her Polly Pockets and Littlest Pet Shop toys.

He loves to drink orange juice and eat popcorn.

He loves to take baths.

He loves to go to nursery class on Sundays.

I can't wait to see what fun things will come our way when he gets older, but I'm a little sad to say goodbye to my last baby. I've been anxious to get to the stage where we are out of diapers forever and I don't have to have a toddler translator nearby to figure out what he's trying to tell me. That's why it took me by suprise last night that I was sad to see my baby grow up... I didn't think I would get this sentimental about it, but he's been such a fun, cute little boy. Check out this picture of him when he was one week old:

123 Book Tag

Connie tagged me for the 123 Book Tag.

Here are the rules:
*Find the book closest to you with at least 123 pages.

*Turn to page 123.
*Find the fifth sentence.

*Post the next 3 sentences.
*Tag 5 people.

"His digestion was poor, and he had a weeping eye. But as his youth died, his gaiety increased; he replaced he teeth with jests, his hair with joy, his health with irony, and his weeping eye was always laughing. He was dilapidated but bedecked with flowers."

~Les Miserables, Unabridged, Victor Hugo

I tag Maureen, Adrienne, Jill, Amber, and Kristen

Personal Note: I've been trying to focus on reading this book for two years now... I'm on page 420 out of 1463. Maybe someday I'll finish it! This is the only broadway play I've ever seen and I Love it! I have the entire soundtrack memorized... crazy, huh?

Help! I'm going CRAZY!!!

So, I've been trying to learn how to change the backgrounds on my blog, but everytime I do it, I lose all my sidebar stuff. I'm sick of manually retyping it all back in (and even when I thought I'd saved a back up copy of my template with the sidebars intact, I loaded it back up wrong so I got a blog page loaded with html code instead of what you should see.... Can someone please help me figure this out before I lose my mind? I'm not going to add back in my sidebar stuff until I've learned how to successfully change around my background without losing it. Please email me if you can walk me through this... Thanks!

UPDATE!!! So with hubby and oldest son gone for the night on a scout camp-out, I was able to dedicate more than the normal amount of time figuring this out. I'm VERY pleased with the results! You can find fun backgrounds here and here, and you can read about how to change them out without losing your "widgets" (the official html code name for page elements) here. I'd already read one tutorial that had me completely baffled, but this one I was able to get through with only one mistake! I've wasted hours and hours over the last week or so looking for fun and cute background pages for the future. I want to be completely proficient at this so I don't have to follow the instructions verbatim each time, so don't be suprised if you see my background changing often over the next few weeks. This is almost more fun that moving furniture!!!

March Madness

Disclaimer: This post is LONG... I decided to lump one 11 day vacation into one post... mostly because I won't have time over the weekend to deal with doing it in pieces....

Here's a brief rundown of how our trip went (I'll save the pie chart for next year....) :

Friday: drove 800 miles from AZ to Bay Area, left 90 minutes later than planned, so we arrived about 2 hours later than planned due to traffic, etc. that we would have missed had we left earlier in the day. Got to my mom's house, wolfed down some Papa Murphy's pizza (not my favorite, but I was too tired and hungry to care...) and ran the kids across town to my sis-in-law's house for a sleepover.

Saturday: slept late (like 8:30) and enjoyed every minute of it! Went to Kohl's with Eric and my mom and dad (and Brayden) and used my dad's 30% off coupon to buy Eric a new suit and I got this:

Eric and I have been in the market for new wedding bands and this one I just fell in love with. I'd seen one online just like it, but was nervous to buy a diamond online. I've been to dozens of stores and just couldn't find one that matched it until now! And yes, it's a certified diamond and it's being sized right now, so you won't get to see it on my finger for a couple more weeks! We then met over at Jeff's house to grab kids and carpool to Oakland to visit the Chabot Space and Science Center. Very fun place and FREE because I bought a membership at our local Science Museum. Gotta Love FREE anything, right!?! The highlight was staying late at night so we could look through the telescopes. We saw an amazing upclose view of the moon and one of the planets. I think it was Venus, but it might have been Mars. Can't remember. If we could have stayed later, we would have gotten to see Saturn. I was bummed we missed that one. I think Saturn is definately my favorite planet. I was also thrilled to see that the museum hadn't phased out Pluto, since it's technically not a planet anymore. Maybe that stupid decision has been reversed and I just haven't heard about it!

Sunday: went to church in my home ward when I was little with Jeff's family. More on that here. Had a very quiet afternoon at my mom's house and spent some time working on geneology with my mom and dad. Of course, this was about the only time all week that I had to read blogs!

Monday: Christy had a mini-reunion at a park with high school friends (see link from Sunday for more on that) and the guys (Eric, Taylor and Grandpa) went and saw 10,000 BC. Megan and Grandma went and got pedicures and French Toast for lunch at IHOP (this is Megan's new favorite restaurant). I took Brayden and Ian with me and grabbed Wendy's to bring to the park. Then we headed for Dublin to visit dear friends - the Daytons. We have lots of dear friends in Dublin, but over the years, the Dayton kids and our kids have just "clicked"... after not seeing each other for a year or more, they can disappear and play and we have to drag them out when it's time to leave.

Tuesday: went and did a session at the Sacramento Temple with both sets of parents. The murals inside the first room were breathtaking. Every beautiful part of the Sierra foothills was painted into those murals. It absolutely blew me away! Then we had lunch at The Old Spaghetti Factory and I had a fantastic burger. It had swiss cheese, real, thick bacon and pesto mayo. Yummm! I did forget to ask the waitress if the bun was sesame free... thank goodness is was! The thought didn't even occur to me until she set my plate down in front of me! Tuesday evening we had dinner with Amy, Kevin and my nephew Ben. It was a fun night and Amy told us all about getting cheap (but very real) pearls in Qatar (where Kevin is going back to on his next deployment) and she took $20 from us to restock us on Kinder Chocoloate (only available at the Travis AFB Commisary)! Megan and Taylor got to go to Mutual and AD's with Ashlyn and Lyndi, which they LOVED!

Wednesday: We went to the movies - Horton Hears a Who.... It was really cute! Very well done and definately a must buy on DVD. We met Elise, Kate, Matt, Grandma W, Ethan and Dallyn there. The adults definately were outnumbered! The rest of the day on Wednesday we hung out with Elise and Alan, Kate and Matt. We all went for dinner at Red Brick Pizza and Alan and Taylor played lots of Guitar Hero!

Thursday: We hung out at Grandma Wanlass' house in the morning with her, Grandpa and Ethan and Dallyn. Then, we all went to a park and taught them how to geo-cache. We made little bags of candy and Eric went around the parks perimeter, hiding each one. Then each kid in the group got to use the GPS to find their own bag of candy. It was a lot of fun! The younger kids were happy to play on the slides and those little boys kept their grandpa busy chasing after them! Then Thursday night for dinner, we went to Jeff and Molly's house. We made tacos and fajitas for dinner. The kids played and all the adults (and teens) watched I Am Legend. I didn't get to see the whole thing, but it's not the most uplifting movie you've ever seen.

Friday: We met everyone (both sides of the family and friends from Dublin) at the Jelly Belly Factory. We've been there several times over the years and I've never seen it like it was on Friday! We waited in a line that took about 90 minutes to get through just to see the tour. But the tour is awesome and well worth the wait. We love the free packet of Jelly Bellys they give you as you leave and we stocked up on Belly Flops for our friends at home. By the time we were done on Friday afternoon, it was time for my brother to get into town from Eureka. Back at my mom's house, we put the kids in matching white t-shirts and took some pictures of them for my mom to hang on her wall. This by far was the best one:

Saturday: All Rossiter relations nearby gathered at the Rossiter Hotel for an Easter BBQ. We had an egg hunt, a pinata (my mom's favorite new tradition), and WAY TOO MUCH FOOD!

Also on Sat, Eric finally made a decision about his wedding band and ordered it. He ordered his online... there were so many great choices, it took him a really long time to decide. It really helped that he showed the pictures to family and got as many opinions as he could. Here's what he finally decided on:

It's made of Carbide Tungsten, which above all DOESN'T scratch. Anyone who knows my husband really well, knows that scratches (on anything, cars, LCD screens, wood, etc.) are one of his BIGGEST pet peeves! I hope the ring is as nice in person as it is in this picture!

Sunday: We went to Sac Meeting with my parents, Adam and Ben. My mom sang in a group of six women and it was gorgeous. Maybe I'm a bit biased, but I think they sounded better than the ward choir. Then Sunday afternoon, Adam and Ben took off for Eureka, my parents took off to have Easter dinner with more family, and we had the house to ourselves for 1 whole hour! Of course, we spent that time packing up and getting ready to leave the next day. Then we dropped the older kids off at Jeff and Molly's house for one last playdate and headed to Fairfield to help Mom W get Easter dinner in the oven and underway. We all gathered at mom and dad's house later after everyone was done with church and had a fantastic ham, garlic red potatoes, a fabulous green salad, rolls, and 3 kinds of dessert. This didn't include another egg hunt for the kids! Taylor finally broke out his airsoft gun and let Ashyln take it for a spin. Someone needs to give that girl some more instruction - she fired off, never hitting a thing, and no one helped her... they all just watched it! Dallyn (age 2.5) was absolutely obsessed with T's gun... after it was unloaded and safe, he ran around the house with it, shooting everyone and everything he could. He was in heaven! We slept over at mom and dad w's the last night before heading home.

Monday: another 800 miles to get home, but we were so glad to be in our own beds, use our own shower and find everything in top notch shape when we returned after what felt like a decade!

Under the Weather

We are all under the weather today.

Last night I had a sinus headache and a sore throat. This morning all three older kids complained of stuffy noses and sore throats. I medicated them all and shipped them off to school. It's not a nasty cold bug, but it's enough to zap all your willpower to do anything productive! Even Brayden has a scratchy voice and a little bit of a runny nose.

And to top it all off, my computer is sick too! I don't think it has a virus, but something is really "kicking it's butt". It's slower than "Molasses in January" (a quote often used by my mom when I was a kid) and it didn't download all of my trip pics off my camera. I'm quite annoyed because now I'm going to have to go through the camera and see what's been missed and manually download it. I was all set to do that today, but then my camera started flashing the "low battery" warning and my spare battery is dead too.... so no trip pictures will get posted today... maybe tomorrow will be better!

Speaking of computers... I'm in the market for a laptop. Sharing one computer for a six person household is getting challenging, to say the least. Plus, I want to have a laptop so I can keep it in my kitchen for use when I need to stay downstairs. Right now the family computer is in the loft upstairs and it just isn't always a convienent location for me. So, if you have any really great recommendations (or tips on things to stay away from), now is the time to speak up. I'm pretty open to anything and I'm interested in converting over to a Mac, but still don't know enough about them to make the decision on what to get. This will be paid for by the wonderful check the IRS will be sending me in a couple months. Having 4 kids will really pay off... $2400 (tax and tithing free.... wahoo!)

For the Love of Family....

So, we got back last night from our 11 day trip to CA to visit "the fam". This is a loaded statement, since there is so much "fam" to visit. Eric and I love our family dearly, but trying to cram in a "year's worth" of get togethers in one visit just isn't possible... We do our best to make our "visit" time as fair as possible, but someone always gets the short end of the stick. Thanks to everyone for being so understanding about it! Maybe next year we'll make a "pie chart" of our time and show it to everyone so it's fair! Thanks to my mom and dad for once again providing the "Rossiter Hotel". Most days, we get up, shower, eat breakfast, take off for an adventure with someone else, stay out late, come back around ten pm and then crash and sleep just to repeat the cycle all over again the next day! Visiting the family is exhausting to say the least, but always worth it! When it was all said and done, we logged over 2200 miles in 11 days! I have a Suburban and you don't even want to know what my gas bill was for this trip, especially with gas costing $3.50 in Ca right now! More on our travel adventures tomorrow... today is a day for laundry and catching up on life at home.... oh the mail pile I have to sort through!

ABC's - All About Me

A: Attached or Single - definately attached - 15 years last December!

B: Best Friends - I like to call them kindred spirits... the list is too long and I will surely forget someone important, so let's not even try, okay?

C: Cake or pie... neither... how about a warm brownie with vanilla ice cream!

D: Day of Choice: currently Thursday - nothing beats watching Lost on Thursday night right now - can you believe Michael has surfaced again... is Walt with him too?

E: Essential Items: cell phone, chapstick, sunglasses

F: Favorite Color: currently red (but not for everything and not every shade- I love cranberry and rusty red, but not Christmas red or fire engine red....)

G: gummy bears or worms: neither... yuck!

H: Hometown: Vacaville, CA

I: Indulgences: eating out, fast food - I'm a particular sucker for Wendy's cheeseburgers and fries, Ghiradelli chocolate - my favorite is milk chocolate with caramel inside

J: January or July - JANUARY! I love winter, love snow, love cold days and warm fireplaces and I love my turtleneck sweaters!

K: kids- 4, 3 boys and a girl

L: life is incomplete without: the gospel, my family, great food, uplifting music

M: marriage date - December 30, 1992

N: number of siblings - just one - my younger brother Adam

O: oranges or apples - fuji apples all the way!

P: Phobias or fears: drowning, fires, snakes, heights/falling, flying in planes (relates to the heights/falling fear)

Q: quotes: I've been quoting Anne of Green Gables a lot lately - I really like this one: "tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes."

R: reason to smile: my husband and my kids, I'm a pretty happy person and smile a lot

S: season of choice: fall, I don't know if it's because the leaves are changing and summer is going away, or if it's because the holidays are coming or if it's because my b-day is in the fall... all are good reasons to love the fall, I guess!

T: tag 3 friends - Kayla, Heidi, Elise

U: unknown fact about me - I never paint my fingernails, but my toenails are always painted some shade of purple

V: very favorite store - I love Ikea, Macy's, Eddie Bauer, Dress Barn... it's hard to pick just one... I love to shop!

W: worst habit - I crack my knuckles incessently... it drives my hubby nuts!

X: xray or ultrasound - definately ultrasound

Y: your favorite food: tough one... I LOVE brocolli beef and chicken enchiladas

Z: Zodiac sign: scorpio

Just a little OBSESSED...

Brayden has entered the "obsession" phase of toddlerhood. The one where they are completely obsessed with something for a few weeks (or months) and then out of nowhere, they just change their obsession completely and move on to something new to be obsessed with. Brayden's current obssession is "Leo" from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles... it all started with that cute little blue ribbon he wore on his head. Then we finally got that off his head, but he still would point to his forhead and say, "Leo! Leo!" I felt bad that I had "made it disappear", but I felt like I had no other alternatives. Then, Sunday after church, Ian found Brayden's Halloween costume from last year. Brayden had NEVER actually worn it. I bought a cute little fleece Yoda robe that was just adorable, but Brayden would have NOTHING to do with it. On Sunday, Ian told Brayden it was a "ninja turtle" robe and next thing I know Brayden is wearing it around the house and won't take it off! But, since it's fleece, by dinner time he's sweating bullets and we had a fight like you wouldn't believe getting it off his body to put jammies on. So, another obsession item "disappears".... then on Monday, I was washing laundry and his winter jacket had been washed. He saw it and grabbed it and put it on his head, only he wasn't satisfied unless it was zipped up and the hood was on his head. It's a warm jacket and just like the day before ended up having Megan pull it off him when he was so hot he couldn't stand it anymore. As soon as it was "off", it convienently disappeared as well... today we found a pair of boy's sunglasses that are "ninja turtle" themed.... YES! This is an obsession I can handle. He's been wearing these sunglasses all day and keeps pointing to them and saying, "Leo! Leo!" It's so darn cute.... can't wait til he's older and I can tell him about his crazy 2 year old antics and obsessions!

Today I went back to the dentist to have a cavity filled... it's been 2 1/2 hours since I left the dentist and I'm still numb and just starting to tingle/thaw out. This afternoon I get to pack and clean and then finish preparing for our big Relief Society Dinner tonight. Never again will I schedule one of these events the night before a road trip- this is the second time I've done this and I'm really regretting it! Tomorrow we hit the road for "home"... it's always nice to go back to the Bay Area... we love it there!

My New Reality

I finally broke down and went to an allergist last week. They evaluated my asthma situation and then set me up for skin testing this morning. I've been dreading it... it's not exactly a pleasant experience to endure and I've done it MANY times before. This was the first time they did it on my back and quite honestly, it was much easier to resist scratching and I couldn't see the welts, so I actually liked it better than the arm test. But, I had good news and bad news.....

Good News - NOT allergic to dog OR guinea pig - Yeah! No guilt about keeping animals we already have! I also have a legitimate excuse to avoid yard work now... I'm allergic to most things in the yard.... I kinda see this as a plus....

Bad News - I was tested for foods today for the first time... I'm still sad about what I heard about that...

This is what I'm allergic to... it's a long list and a lot of it is stuff I don't even know about (I'm going to have to do some internet research next week to see what exactly all these plants/trees look like....)

• Grass: Bermuda, Johnson and Western Wheatgrass (in layman's terms, that's basically every grass here for every season of the year...)


• Mites: Both types of dust mites (Good side of this is that I finally have a justifiable reason to get rid of the carpet in my bedroom!)


• Animals: Only cats... sorry Adam... good thing I've never slept over at your house! (The funny thing about the animal list is that it included cockroaches... gross!)


• Trees: Salt Cedar, Mountain Cedar, Pecan and Mesquite (I have a Mesquite Tree in my front yard and I LOVE it....)


• Weeds: Allscale, Careless Weed, Cocklebur, Dock/Sorrel Mix, Firebush/Kochia, Iodine Bush, Lamb's Quarter, Rabbit Bush, Ragweed False, Ragweed Western, Ragweed Mix, Russian Thistle (AKA Tumbleweeds) and Sagebrush. Russian Thistle was by far my WORST reaction... but there's no escaping it given where I live!


• Foods: Shellfish mix (no love lost here... I dislike ALL fish!) and Sesame... sigh... I knew this was coming someday, but honestly didn't stop to think that it would be included on the test this morning. My mom has developed, just in the last 5 years a severe sesame allergy. It's bad enough that she carries an epi-pen for it. At first glance, sesame seems like an easy thing to avoid, but it's in a lot of food that you just don't realize. But, on the plus side, no more seasame seed buns for me, which gives me a legimate reason to tell my kids no more McD's or BK! On the sad side, I LOVE Red Robin Burgers and they have sesame seeds too! I also LOVE Chinese Food and you never know when they add sesame oil, but it's in a lot of it!!! My mom can't eat any chinese food at all because of her allergy. So right now, I've been instructed to be VERY cautious when eating sesame products. I haven't had any known reactions yet, but it's probably a ticking time bomb situation. I'll tell you one thing though... I have some pre-made lettuce wraps in my fridge from Sam's Club and I am going to eat them tomorrow an enjoy every LAST bite... who knows if and when I'll ever get something like that again!!!

One thing is for sure... all this allergy "talk" is making my back itch like mad... time for some Benedryl....

Shameless Plug...

We have developed a ritual of going for Smoothies a couple of times a month. We have a smoothie place nearby that we just LOVE! They are in the same strip mall as two other lesser known food franchises that haven't been able to survive and have closed up shop. One was Garlic Jim's Pizza - they have some of the best pizza I've ever tasted! But alas, they are gone and we are sad. Inta Juice (in my humble opinion) has a much better menu than it's nationally known smoothie competitor. So, my local friends, click here to find their address and help me help them stay in business! I cannot do this alone! And if you aren't nearby, find a location near you and check it out - I promise you won't be disappointed!

In Honor of Dublin,

...California and Dublin, Ireland. I have never been to Ireland, but I lived in Dublin, CA for seven years. Seven really great years. We have very fond memories of our time in Dublin. Our many adventures fixing up our old, yet expensive, home. Our many friends who came and went over the years... some of whom we've reconnected with here in AZ. Being an hour away from parents and lots of cousins. The green hills of the Bay Area in March... ahhh... I really miss that... and my crown molding... not to common in AZ... This was my house in Dublin... so little and old, but we loved it !

Three years ago this week, we moved away from Dublin and came to the desert. What a interesting three years it has been! After three years here, I can say we have put down some roots. If we never move again, I will be okay with that. I don't see us moving again anytime soon, but I never thought we'd leave Dublin, either. It was home. I still have a bad habit of calling it "home" when I'm talking referring to it.... Now we have a new "home".... but my experience in Dublin has taught me that you never know when plans will change and life will bring on a new adventure!

When Taylor was in 4th grade, we went on lots of field trips to learn about local history and we visited the Historic Dublin Museum, housed in a very old church and school house. It was a fun place to visit and we learned about Dublin's History:

Dublin has a rich history dating back to 1772 when Pedro Fages led an expedition of 16 mounted men on a journey in search of a land route to Drake's Bay which at that time was called San Francisco Bay. Their return journey brought them through the Amador Valley.
It wasn't until approximately 1822 when building began in the area. Jose Maria Amador had been paid in land for his years of service as a Mexican soldier and as administrator of Mission San Jose. He received a land grant of 16,517 acres in the Amador- Livermore Valley. He built several adobe homes and many small buildings that were used as shops where his Indian workers made soap, blankets, shoes, farm tools, etc., for use on his rancho.
In 1852 Michael Murray and Jeremiah Fallon came to this area from Ireland. They purchased 1,000 acres of land from Jose Amador and built homes for their families. The area began to grow as many settled in the area.
In 1853 Alameda County was created from parts of Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties. Both Murray and Fallon served on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. Townships were established the next year and Murray's name was chosen for this area.
By 1877 the first schoolhouse in the Amador-Livermore Valley, along with a church, two hotels, Green's Store, a wagon and blacksmith shop, and a shoemaker's shop were constructed in Dublin. The Murray Schoolhouse, Green's Store, St. Raymond's Church and the old cemetery (where members of the Donner Party Expedition are buried) have been preserved and are now located on Donlan Way. Mail was delivered to the Dougherty Station Hotel. Thus the area became known as Dougherty's Station. Subsequently, the area became known as Dublin and in 1982 the City incorporated.

Can You Believe This is Less Than 2 Hours from Phoenix???

We survived 5th grade camp. I'm really glad I got to go! It's a fun way for me to spend quality time with my kids since I'm not allowed on scout camps! We had BEAUTIFUL scenery, FUN activities, and FABULOUS food! Plus, no cooking or dishes for me and all the hot chocolate I could drink! (Which I did.... it was so darn cold, it's the only way I could keep my body warm.....)

On day one, we moved into our cabins, ate our sack lunches and hit the rock wall and went hiking. Megan did awesome on the rock wall... she made it about 20 feet up before quitting. That's probably 10+ feet more than I made it 2 years ago. I still remember how much my legs shaked on this wall and was in no hurry to repeat the experience this year. That night we had a good ol' fashioned campfire with songs and skits galore. None of them were familiar to me... so now I know even more than I did before!

On day two, we got up and took hot showers, ate breakfast, then had Team Challenge and made Catapults. Then after lunch we dissected owl pellets (the adults just watched and tried not to be grossed out....), played a fun game called "The Beast", and did some archery. Then after dinner (and a few more cups of Hot Choc) we went on a night Hike. This was cool, because no flashlights are allowed and they teach you things about night vision and how animals vision is different from humans. We played fun games and even made sparks fly with lifesavers. VERY cool! Megan's favorite part was the Native American story about how the sky was created. It was a neat story. The stars were so beautiful up there in the mountains with no "city" lights as a distraction. I couldn't stop staring at them!

Day three, was a quiet day... we ate breakfast, took showers and then packed up. We cleaned up our cabin and had free time to roam around, play ping pong, basketball or volleyball. The adults spent most of their time looking for warm places to sit and soak up as much sun (and warmth) as possible. At one point, I looked at a thermometer on a wall of a building and in the shade it was 36 degrees. This was about lunchtime!!! The bus ride home was long, but I can't tell you how much I enjoyed having a warm house, hot shower and my own bed again!

Blogging Withdrawal....

Got back yesterday from camp with Megan. I'll blog about it soon, but I want to have pictures to post and I don't have any digital. I knew Megan would want to take her own pics up there with friends, so I reverted to the dark ages and bought her a disposable to take. I didn't take my digital because I didn't want to worry about Mega losing it. Turns out it was a valid concern.... more on that later.... I'm hoping to develop film tomorrow and then I'll have to scan and post.... man, talk about dark ages!

It was good to come home and see all my boys after 3 days of nothing but girls!!! Brayden has changed a lot in the last month, but it really hit me when I came home and when I said no to something he wanted, he clearly replied, "it's not fair!" I couldn't believe my ears! He's been saying phrases like that for a while, I just wasn't really paying much attention, I guess!

My in laws are still here, so blogging time will be limited... I just spent the last hour catching up on friends and family blogs... I was starting to feel "out of the loop"... I really love reading about everything you are all doing!

And by the way, Brayden has been wearing that blue"rambo" ribbon since Monday... he won't take it off for anything but a bath and then it has to go right back on his head. I'm going to try to "lose" it before church, but if you see him at church with a blue ribbon on his head, please don't judge me! I'm not sure if we'll win the battle and if we lose Eric will be so embarrassed to take him out in public! It's so funny though, he calls himself a "ninja turtle" and he points to the one with the blue mask (Leonardo) on the video game we have. It's hilarious!

YMCA

Tomorrow morning, Megan and I are headed off to science camp with the rest of her 5th grade class. We are going to a camp in the mountains near Prescott. I've actually been there before, when Taylor went 2 years ago, I got to chaperone then, too. It's a beautiful place and I can't wait to see it again!

Last time it was bitter COLD, so I know this year to come very prepared for cold weather. This picture is of me and one of the girls in my cabin on the last day, and yes, those white spots in the photo are real snowflakes! It snowed the last day, which was of course, totally awesome! I'm hoping for snow this year, but I doubt we'll get any!

What's the Deal?

Since school started in January, we have been getting our kids up every morning at 6:45 to read scriptures together as a family before Eric goes to work and they have to get ready for school. This is the first time EVER we have ever attempted this, but after 2 months, I feel safe in saying that it's become a habit. For the first time in our family's life, we've consistently read the scriptures 5-6 days a week. The reason we've never attempted this before is because so many of us are NOT morning people. Megan and Taylor are now pretty good at getting up and coming to our room in the morning when their alarm goes off, but Ian has to be carried to our room every morning. He HATES reading scriptures in the morning and spends most mornings pretending to be asleep on our bed the whole time. This has been the daily drill for two months now. Then, last night, I told Eric that I wanted to sleep in (preferably until noon) because I was just so darn sleep deprived. I knew even getting to 7:30 a.m. would be sleeping in for me. Such is my life now.... but anyway, this morning I woke to Ian asking me if him and Brayden could go downstairs and play on the xbox 360. I say (groggily) "uh huh...." then I roll over to see the alarm clock - 6:40 a.m.!!!! That little bugger! I'm NEVER going to let him play "possum" again during scriptures in the morning!

Rambo

For several days last week, Brayden insisted on wearing this blue ribbon around his head. The kids called him a ninja, but all I could think was, "Who needs to go see Sylvester Stallone, when we have the cutest Rambo right here?"