Best Christmas gift ever

When my family lived in Hawaii some friends made my parents 1 or 2 (I forget) reel to reel Christmas tapes. This is what we listened to my whole life at Christmas time. Over and over and over. I'm not sure I ever knew there were other options. We listened to them long past the point that reel to reels were even around. In middle and high school my friends all thought it was the weirdest thing and, now that I think of it, it was kinda weird to have this huge piece of equipment hanging around to use for 1 month a year. I think my mom tried to put them on cassette at one point but there just came a time in the mid 90's when the reel to reel machine died and we never heard our music again. A couple of years ago my sister, Kirstin, did what must have been hours of internet research and found all of our music and put it on CD's for all of us. I wouldn't have even known where to start looking. We had no idea what this stuff was. She labeled most of it: Christmas with Conniff, Do-Re-Mi Children's Choir, Ray Conniff and the Conniff Singers: We Wish You A Merry Christmas, Andy Williams Christmas Album. How random is that? I've never even heard of most of that. How much music did she have to listen to to find what she was looking for. The most impressive one is just labeled Hawaiian Christmas Music. What would you even type into your search box? "high pitched women singing a mix of Hawaiian and English Christmas songs?" Of course that one is my favorite. It's on right now and it was the first Christmas song Courtney played this year while we were there for Thanksgiving. Rob and the kids humor me but I can tell they don't get the same delight as I do in listening to my Christmas music while 20+ CD's of other Christmas music gets dusty on the shelf. Mele Kalikimaka everyone.

Thanksgiving '08

This year we went down to Boise to be with my brother Courtney and his wife Paige and my sister Kathy and her husband Bryan. We just saw them all last weekend but it's still fun to get together. It's nice that Courtney and Paige have moved so close because the kids have more fun here since they have kids and all. Kathy's son, Dane, was here also which was kind of a treat. He's old and a world traveler now so sometimes it's hard to pin him down. Maybe when he gets married we'll see him more.

Here was the spread. Kathy did the turkey, yams, and artichoke dip. She brined the turkey and then did the 2 hour method. Best turkey ever! Even Devin and Autumn liked it. I did the stuffing, cranberries, and (Winco) rolls. Everyone made pie of course. We still have an uncut pumpkin pie. I'm sure we'll find a way to finish off though. I have to say this was the best Thanksgiving meal I've had in years. Everything tasted great and we had a great time as a family.

This has been Devin's look all weekend. Guess he's cold?

This has been the entertainment. With 4 laptops running around and most of them in use most of the time. Aww yes, good old fashioned family fun.

Siri and Cousin Dane. That seems to be his first given name, Cousin Dane.

Siri and Cousin Dane. He is always the highlight of her trip whenever he shows up. They love each other so much and he is so great with her. Won't she be devistated if he ever gets married and has a kid he likes more.

A great thing happened on this date in 197?

A very Happy Birthday to my good friend Shannon. Shannon is my oldest - wait that doesn't sound right - most enduring friend. I'm so grateful and blessed to have her in my life.

Top 10 reasons Shannon Rocks:

10. Great kids for my kids to be friends with.

9. Not afraid to wear a swimsuit at the pool.

8. Gets my butt off the couch and up the hill.

7. Not afraid to try anything at least once.

6. Hello, lunch!

5. Loyal beyond belief.

4. Hello, breakfast!

3. Listens to me rant like a crazy woman and pretends that
whatever I saw makes sense. She takes my side, even
why I'm clearly wrong.

2. Loves to do crazy stuff, like look at Christmas lights, that
other women of her advanced age are far too mature for.

1. The outhouse story - The first of countless times she made
me laugh till I almost peed.

Shannon, I hope you have the best birthday ever. Thanks for being my friend for the past (count em) 10 years.

P.S. I know when your b-day is. I didn't tell it to publish until today so I don't know why the date is wrong. Stupid blogspot.

Crayola manicures

Siri and Riley were running a beauty salon today. Since Kathy had already left to go back to Boise and Paige was watching the BYU game with Courtney's friends Alex and I were the only willing victims. I mean clients. All that was offered was lip gloss and crayola marker manicures. I got pink and red with a different sticker on each finger. Fancy huh. I think they did each other too because we were all very colorful.

Look what we saw

Right here in our own Columbia Park. Two bald eagles. I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever seen a bald eagle in the wild. It was so cool. Who knew?

Siri's Baptism

Today was the big day. Siri has so looked forward to being baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was nice for family and friends to come share her special day.

Siri and her dad doing a "dry run."

Sister shot. Too bad it's blurry cause it's so cute.

Siri and her mom.

Siri and her dad.

She has talked many times about having her picture taken in front of the temple on her baptism day. We are so fortunate to have a temple right in our back yards and we were lucky to have a beautiful autumn day. We're so proud of Siri and the good choices she continues to make.

And then there was Uncle Bryan's birthday cake. Yum.

Siri loves the leaves

Last year Siri and I ended up raking all the leaves by ourselves. I was dreading the job but everyone else was gone and it needed to be done so it was up to us. We ended up having so much fun and she was such a great helper. Once we got a humongous pile Siri had a great time swimming in them. This year I was actually looking forward to doing it with her again on her birthday, a no-school day. I figure I don't have very many more years of her wanting to help me so I needed to take advantage. Unfortunately, it rained that day and the next day the wind blew most of the leaves away. So, Saturday, while I was busy with other things, Rob blew and raked what was left from our yard and what was ours from the neighbors yard. Only seemed fair. Once he got his slightly less humongous pile Siri asked if she could go swimming in them. He kind of looked at her like she was crazy so we had to show him what she meant. This is the video of her showing him. And, of course, hamming it a little for the camera.

Last year, exhausted from busy day of raking and swimming.

Flashback To: You're wearing what?

I love taking pictures of the kids when I walk in and find them wearing the most random thing. Unfortunately, the older kids do it less and less and until I go through and scan my boxes of disorganized, unscrapbooked photos, I can mostly just show Siri. But here she is in all her random clothesed glory.

I guess she got cold.

This is Autumn and Siri. I have no idea what they were up to but it sure was funny. This is probably one of my favorite pictures.

That would be a fabric book cover on her head. The things they think of. She was a "silly secret agent" that day.

Umm..... What?

Okay, this one was preplanned. This was in a little store in Mexico. She was discovering her roots.

This wasn't at all random at the time but it's all I could find of Devin as far as weird clothes go. This is what he used to refer to as the "naked shirt." It was his favorite outfit for several years and he wore in year round whenever he could get away with it.

Flashback to........From the mouths of babes

You know those funny things your kids say that stick with the family forever, way past when the kids stop saying it? Here are some of ours:

Autumn: When you would ask her a question such as, "Did you make that mess?" or "What have you been up to?" and she didn't want get into more trouble for lying the answer was always. I don't want to tell you. I still use this one on Rob a lot.

Devin: If he wanted you to know that things were going good. It's so faaa and it's sooooooo good. (So far so good)

Siri: Most mornings: I'd like 2 eggs and 2 toast-es. She's now moved on to 2 eggs and 2 toasts.

The Leaves Are Falling Down

I'm sure you're wondering what on Earth you're looking at. These are the leaves all over my floor. That black thing is the cord to my vacuum. I hadn't had time to put it away from the last time I vacuumed leaves. Oh yes. It's definitely fall. Our yard has a solid layer of leaves at least 2 inches deep. I was going to rake them today but it rained. Yuck. The good news for me, not for my neighbors, is that we are expecting a strong wind tonight which will clear a lot from my yard (sorry) and hopefully clear the tree. Then I can spend a good day with the rake and have my house back to normal.... Until it snows and I get gloves, hats, boots in the entry.....

Happy Birthday Siri

Siri turned 8 today. She is a perfect example of the Primary Song."I like my birthdays, everyone; Each brings a greater joy to me. But I can't wait until I'm eight; For then I'll be baptized. you see." (Children's Songbook pg. 104). She's been waiting for this since I don't know when. Of course, there are other perks. She now gets to have sleepovers. Since her birthday is on a holiday we thought last night would be the perfect time to have her first sleepover party. I told her she could invite 3-4 friends. After much turmoil and angst we somehow settled of 5. Megan H., Heidi H., MaKinna V., Maddie B., and Kaitlin N. She'd have had 50 if I would have let her. She sure loves her friends. She was upset that I wouldn't let her invite Porter. I swear it wasn't personal. I'm just not so into the co-ed sleepover trend. Call me old fashioned.

Here they are eating pizza. Doesn't look like so many. Then where did all the noise come from?

Costco cake of course.

Heidi gave her a Happy birthday hat shaped like a cake with candles to boot. How funny is that?

Siri with Wormie.
For good measure so we can see how much she's grown.

Twilight part II: Clarification

I PROMISE NO SPOILERS THIS TIME. It's been brought to my attention that I've messed up the Twilight series for someone. I AM SOOOOOO SORRY. I'm so sorry I even made my apology purple in your honor. Next time I will warn about spoilers. I'm new at this is my only excuse.
Obviously I didn't clearly explain my position on the books. I LIKE THEM! I know that kids know the difference between reality and fantasy and I absolutely let them read book where people do things I wouldn't want them doing. What fun is it to read about your real life? You (or I) read to experience a different life for a while. I have read with my kids more Harry Potter/Lemony Snicket/Lord of the Rings/Artemis Fowl/Percy Jackson/Guardian King/Ender etc. than I would ever have hoped to in my whole life. They love fantasy and sci-fi in a way that I will never understand.
When I first read Twilight I thought it was a great, clean, story for young girls. I laughed and rolled my eyes when the girls would sit around talking about Edward being the perfect boyfriend. Whatever, harmless. I did think it was a great opportunity to take Autumn aside and explain to her that while Edward the vampire makes a great boyfriend, Edward the regular kid could possibly be an abuser in the making. Conversation took all of about 5 minutes.
My problem came when I realized that the books are an obsession for some adult, married women. NOT JUDGING! NOT MY BUSINESS! I already had the conversation with my daughter. I realize that most of the women I associate with have not had my past and are not at my stage with their daughters. I'm at the point now when I'm worried about what my daughter has learned about relationships. I was just putting out another point of view. Something for people to think about before they go telling young women that Edward is the perfect boyfriend. We know that it's all talk and that we love our flawed, imperfect husbands so much it hurts. But, if our daughters meet a guy like Edward will they remember that all the women in their ward talked about wishing they had a guy like that?
Fact is, I'm not even a little worried about Autumn meeting her Edward. In fact, if she does meet him, my whole belief system is flawed and I think she should go for it. Become a vampire. Bring us along with her. I'd love to live forever with my hot new self and my hot new Rob. Oh, wait, that's what I'm working for. But I digress. My only point is that while we are swooning over Edward we should be pointing out to these girls that they won't be meeting their Edward. If they meet a guy that acts like that they will more likely be meeting their stalker. I had the conversation with my daughter and it's not my business if anyone else has the conversation with theirs. I was just putting out another point of view. I do give teenagers a lot of credit but I also know that a lot of women have ended up in bad relationships that started with her thinking it was so romantic that he loved her so much that he controlled her every move.
Just another point of view. I never meant to imply that people shouldn't read the books and let their kids read them. Anyone who knows me knows better than that. I just think they watch us closely and we need to be careful. It's a fun diversion for us but we need to make sure they know that that's all it is.
I am now stepping off my soapbox. Who's going to the movie with me? I promise to keep my mouth shut and enjoy the show!

I'm growing

Probably 5 or 6 years ago, maybe longer, I had an experience that really opened my eyes to one of my many unattractive behaviors. It was rather silly really but a huge epiphany. I was rooting around in the kitchen cabinet looking for who knows what when a bottle of basalmic vinegar slipped from my fingers and crashed to the floor. For anyone who is unfamiliar, basalmic vinegar is brown and sticky and smells wonderful. Unless it's spewed from one end of your kitchen to the other. Then you feel like someone is assaulting your nostrils. At that time I had little kids under my feet all the time. Every time I'd turn around I was tripping over someone. So, my natural reaction when I saw the mess I had made was to look around for who I could yell at and how I could make it their fault. When I found myself alone I realized what I was trying to do and it hit me like a ton of bricks.
Flash forward to about 1 month ago. I loved my ipod and kept it in the car so that I could listen while I drove or have it ready if the urge hit me to go hiking or tanning or whatever. I always wanted to make sure I would have it when I needed it. For about a week every time I went into the house from the car a thought would come to my head. It said, "one of these days you are going to regret leaving that in the car with the doors unlocked." Hello.... Holy Ghost? Ya think? So one morning I got in the car and sure enough, I regretted leaving my ipod in the car with the doors unlocked. It was gone!!!!! You would think my first reaction was to get mad at the little punk (I just made up the part about it being a little punk, could be a big punk) who stole my ipod but I'm pleased to announce that I've grown. My first thought was, "Idiot!!
Tonight Rob was saying that he wishes he'd have waited for the newer square ones before he got his and I was saying that we might be able to get one for Christmas. He asked what color I want. I'm pleased to announce that it never for one minute occurred to me that the idiot who invited some little punk to steal her ipod should get rewarded with a new (I'd have said yellow) one. Of course I should have Rob's hand-me-down and he should get the new (blue? green? I forgot to ask) one.
Then I remembered the vinegar. It's nice to see that I've grown.

Twilight

Before the backlash that is bound to come my way I want to go on the record as saying..I LIKE THE TWILIGHT SERIES. I have read them twice, I let my kids read them and I'm looking forward to the movie. I just wondered if I'm the only one at all concerned about message of these books. Particularly the first one. Is no one concerned that this young girl is ready to give up everything, her family, ability to have a family, even her humanity for some kid in her science class? During most of the first book all she knows about him is that he is dangerous, secretive, and most importantly, beautiful. Don't any of you think that it's unhealthy for a young girl to completely break down when her boyfriend leaves? I don't even think it's healthy for me to break down like that if, heaven forbid, my husband were to leave me. I do appreciate the opportunity the books provided for me to discuss these issues with my teenage daughter. I've enjoyed being able to tell why I don't think Jacob is a jerk for fighting for Bella. I even think he would have been a better choice. Her argument was that they were "made for each other" and that they knew it the moment they met. Is that what I want my daughter to believe? Do I want her to think that it is romantic for a guy to be as controlling as Edward is? That dangerous is sexy and stable is boring? I would rather her think it is romantic to fall in love with your best friend. I want her to think it's romantic to have a guy that trusts her and respects her enough to let her make her own decisions. After Edward came back, I got more comfortable with the relationship because I feel like they took the time to get to know each other. It got even better when they were married. Maybe I just feel that when you have chosen your spouse, you choose them over all else. But some kid in your science class? One that hides things from you and tries to control you? I don't think so! And for her to decide that her mother is too weak to ever see her again irritates me to no end. Give the woman enough credit to give her the chance. It's amazing what a mother can deal with to be with her child. I wonder, if you were Renee would you be such a fan? Bring it on.

FLASHBACK TO.............THE SUMMER OF THE FRO (2005)

In the spring of 2005, when Devin had just turned 9, he decided that he wanted cornrows. I wasn't so keen on the idea it but saved me the hassle of monthly haircuts so, whatever. He spent all summer growing his hair out. Unfortunately, he hated to comb it. I bought him all kinds of unfamiliar products to try to make the job easier but he still hated it. Do you blame him? I just thought, who cares? It's summer. One weekend he came home from his dad's house with a perfectly picked out fro and complained about how much it hurt. I told him cornrows would require several hours of that type of treatment. He got a haircut the next day. What a shock to realize he was several inches shorter than I thought he was. He hasn't tried that one again.

With Siri and Kylee.

The only way I could get him to go near a pick.

Crazy!!!!

Quirks

Okay, so Alicia tagged me. I tried to pretend I don't understand the assignment but it was just a ruse. I'm not tagging anyone else though cause she already tagged everyone I would have and none of them have done it. Thanks ladies. I guess I have to go first.
6 quirks about me:
1. I brush my teeth with my eyes closed. Not really sure what that's about. I never even realized I do it until Rob pointed it out to me one night. Maybe it's just so I can really concentrate on a real good cleaning. More likely it's my ridiculous gag reflex. If I see anything remotely gross while I'm brushing my teeth I'm done for. Better to just close my eyes.
2. I like sensation to be symmetrical. Meaning, if I get my hand wet I want the other one wet. If I hurt my finger I will do something to hurt the matching finger on the other side. Weird, I know.
3. I don't like to put my lips on my fork. I'll usually scrape the food off with my teeth. I'm not crazy about touching spoons either but that can be harder to get around.
4. I sometimes get caught up in spelling things. If someone says a sentence and the urge hits me I'll repeat the spelling of all the words in my head. Sometimes I'll even visualize myself typing the sentence. I know this is weird but I'm a reasonable speller and a reasonably fast typist so......... if I works for shooting a free throw, why not for spelling. Just sayin.
5. I'm a habitual toe wiggler. All my running shoes end up wearing out on top instead of the bottom from poking the top when I wiggle my toes.
6. No matter how many times I've seen a movie, I won't start watching in the middle and I will stick with it till the end. Even if it takes several sittings I will keep coming back until I've watched the whole movie. Beginning to end.

Halloween

Wow. October sure did fly by. Despite two previous post dedicated to it, Halloween came from out of the blue this year. We had a fun night though. The ward had a party and trunk or treat. Since I'm an ogre mom and only let my kids trick or treat until they are 12, trunk or treat is the only chance they have to go beg candy from the neighbors. After seeing how unirritated I was by the teenage trick or treaters this year I've been rethinking the whole thing but it hardly seems fair to change it now after poor Autumn has been missing out. At the party, Autumn helped out with the cookie walk and Devin helped direct traffic in the haunted house. It's nice that they have the older kids helping out so that they have something to do. I think they enjoyed themselves.

Here we are in our costumes. I changed costumes at the last minute leaving Rob without one. John Smith is kind of a lame costume on it's own. Devin was some sort of "too cool for you" operative or something. Whatever it is, he did look cool (and very handsome) and came up with it about 10 minutes before we left. Autumn recycled the traditional pumpkin costume that they all wore when they were 2. They tell me Siri never wore it. I'm still not sure that's true but I don't have any pictures so it must be. She probably never wore it because the hat was the best part and it's long gone. Autumn wore it to school - very brave I think - and apparently it was a hit. I guess you never know.

Siri was Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas. We love that movie. I think it's one of the better costumes we've come up with. Rob did a great job on her make-up. My friend Jacque Madison made the dress. Jacque was over helping Autumn make her quilt for Young Women in Excellence and Siri told her that I promised to make her costume but she didn't really see it happening. How pathetic is that? You wouldn't believe what a good seamstress my mom was but I didn't have any desire to learn from her. When I was a teen I was pretty sure I would have "people" for that kind of thing. Little did I know that the "people" would be ward members who take pity on my poor children.

I have learned that my favorite part of Halloween is after the ward party when Rob takes the kids (Siri at this point) out trick or treating and the older kids are off doing their thing and I get to sit in the quiet living room and read a book while I wait for trick or treaters. What a peaceful time!