Thursday, June 6, 2013
Fashion sense
Yeah... I told kids to get in the car... My two year old put her boots on before I could get pants on her... It was so cute that I left it.
Veggie eater
Out of three kids, I have one veggie eater. Evelyn loves cauliflower, cucumbers, tomatoes, broccoli, etc... She'd already eaten her food and sat watching me eat mine. I got a tomato, a cucumber and guacamole on my fork and into my mouth and Evelyn says, "Stop! High five!" She then sat begging for my veggies and saying, "Delicious."
Sam
Today's my Sammy's birthday.... 6/6. And he's now officially 4. It's a day he's waited for for "a long time". He told me this morning that now that he's 4 he won't like video games, but he'll like puppies instead. For his birthday he wanted peanut butter sandwiches and he wanted to color all day. I absolutely adore this guy.... He curls up next to me and says he loves me. He has a giggle to die for and is not easily deterred. He wanted a bike and rode it and rode it until he was a pro. He would fall, get back up, fall, and get up again. He has the memory of a champ too. He can recite the first 6 and almost 7 of the articles of faith, can write his name, can identify all the alphabet, can do simple addition and is the best little singer ever. He wakes up singing and knows all the words to all guys favorite songs. He has the best fencing moves I've seen on a 4 year old but would prefer just to play around. And I'm okay with that... This little guy has my heart.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
another thought on Stake Conference
You know how everything will come from the mouth of two or more? Newly called Seventy, Elder Dube, also spoke to our Stake at conference. His talk was a little rambling and the only thing that I caught directly was his testimony of the prophet and the Book of Mormon. I just realized as I looked over my notes... he said, "As you read the Book of Mormon, you will find power and strength." Which is what Elder Perry promised the kids as they read the Book of Mormon over the summer. Just thought that was pretty cool.
Provo City Center Temple
For family night last night, we took our kids to see the floating tabernacle that was a big part of both Jer's and my life (and the lives of our parents and my grandparents). It will soon be a temple that will touch the lives of my children.
Just a neat thought.
Just a neat thought.
Elder Perry
Yes, we saw Elder L Tom Perry this weekend... But let me start this weekend's blog a little earlier.
Fri: Sharon is starting a fabric store at the Redwood Road intersection on the way out to Eagle Mountain and the Ranches. I'm so excited for her. I want to volunteer to do everything... I went over to help with some stuff and we ended up taking a quick shopping trip. Thanks Seth for watching kids, I NEVER go shopping without them so it was a novel experience.
Friday was also my baby girl's 2nd birthday. I can't believe my baby is not a baby anymore. I love all the fun things She does and learns all the time... But she's definitely not a baby anymore.
Sat: My brother, Seth, invited us to do good company 5k with him. We made him late so he missed friends, but I thoroughly enjoyed doing it with him. We just talked the whole time and kept kids from getting run over with bikes. Evelyn wanted Seth to carry her a long time, I wouldn't be surprised if he was sore from carrying her for about a mile or so... She's not light. The kids now want to ride their bikes on that trail. Thanks Seth, it was so fun!
After the 5k, I left Jer to do his training run and took the kids to the splash pad at the Riverwoods mall. They played, I lounged, then we got Milawi's pizza for lunch.
After naps we bought Ada a new bike. We looked at a few stores and she decided on a purple one. The first one we saw was just plain white. I told the salesman that she probably wanted a girly girl bike... And ironic, the one she chose says Girly Girl right down the side of it. Jer took three hours to put it together and tune up a couple other ones in our garage and we were out till 10pm riding around the neighborhood. It was really kind of funny. It was like a scene out of some touchy feely movie... Parents out late playing with kids on bikes as they learn how to use the new one... I had fun. And we forgot about Stake Conference while we were at it...
Sun: and now to Elder Perry...
He talked to us about learning to set in our own minds the things that are important to us, having the power to decide what's right and what's wrong, and influencing our children when we have their attention. He just touched on the first two and spent the bulk of his talk on the third. He said, "Teach your children independence." Straighten out what kids learn at school at play through the day. Teach "these" young men delayed gratification. Work is expected. He said that children need to help home be a better place, including picking up a paint brush, a lawn mower, or doing other chores. Children need to know the value of money and know "wants vs. needs". We need to teach them to be self-reliant. They need an education, and he talked about how many resources for information that we have today. He also said how easy it was to get rid of bad things on electronic devices... "if there is anything that comes up, it's only one push of the button to get rid of it." He talked about how we need discipline to seek after eternal truths first and attend the temple often. He talked about how he knew that his parents had gone to the temple because he'd see his dad holding his mom's hand (he wasn't one that easily shows physical affection.) We need to consider the contributions we are making in the spiritual lives of our fellow men. He also talked about how we should teach our kids to be creative, to love the Lord and to grow as strong as the wheat to live among the tares. He also gave a direct challenge to the kids. He leaned over the pulpit and challenged them to read 3 pgs in the Book of Mormon everyday this summer to finish the entire book before the beginning of school. He promised strength in your faith if you did it.
My memories of the kids during the conference.... Evelyn took every crayon she could get her hands on and for over an hour she stripped the paper off and broke them in half saying, "Uh-oh, broke!" Ada brought a sticker book and spent a lot of her time sticking the stickers all over herself, Evelyn and Mom. Sam colored, and colored, and colored... Too cute.
Fri: Sharon is starting a fabric store at the Redwood Road intersection on the way out to Eagle Mountain and the Ranches. I'm so excited for her. I want to volunteer to do everything... I went over to help with some stuff and we ended up taking a quick shopping trip. Thanks Seth for watching kids, I NEVER go shopping without them so it was a novel experience.
Friday was also my baby girl's 2nd birthday. I can't believe my baby is not a baby anymore. I love all the fun things She does and learns all the time... But she's definitely not a baby anymore.
Sat: My brother, Seth, invited us to do good company 5k with him. We made him late so he missed friends, but I thoroughly enjoyed doing it with him. We just talked the whole time and kept kids from getting run over with bikes. Evelyn wanted Seth to carry her a long time, I wouldn't be surprised if he was sore from carrying her for about a mile or so... She's not light. The kids now want to ride their bikes on that trail. Thanks Seth, it was so fun!
After the 5k, I left Jer to do his training run and took the kids to the splash pad at the Riverwoods mall. They played, I lounged, then we got Milawi's pizza for lunch.
After naps we bought Ada a new bike. We looked at a few stores and she decided on a purple one. The first one we saw was just plain white. I told the salesman that she probably wanted a girly girl bike... And ironic, the one she chose says Girly Girl right down the side of it. Jer took three hours to put it together and tune up a couple other ones in our garage and we were out till 10pm riding around the neighborhood. It was really kind of funny. It was like a scene out of some touchy feely movie... Parents out late playing with kids on bikes as they learn how to use the new one... I had fun. And we forgot about Stake Conference while we were at it...
Sun: and now to Elder Perry...
He talked to us about learning to set in our own minds the things that are important to us, having the power to decide what's right and what's wrong, and influencing our children when we have their attention. He just touched on the first two and spent the bulk of his talk on the third. He said, "Teach your children independence." Straighten out what kids learn at school at play through the day. Teach "these" young men delayed gratification. Work is expected. He said that children need to help home be a better place, including picking up a paint brush, a lawn mower, or doing other chores. Children need to know the value of money and know "wants vs. needs". We need to teach them to be self-reliant. They need an education, and he talked about how many resources for information that we have today. He also said how easy it was to get rid of bad things on electronic devices... "if there is anything that comes up, it's only one push of the button to get rid of it." He talked about how we need discipline to seek after eternal truths first and attend the temple often. He talked about how he knew that his parents had gone to the temple because he'd see his dad holding his mom's hand (he wasn't one that easily shows physical affection.) We need to consider the contributions we are making in the spiritual lives of our fellow men. He also talked about how we should teach our kids to be creative, to love the Lord and to grow as strong as the wheat to live among the tares. He also gave a direct challenge to the kids. He leaned over the pulpit and challenged them to read 3 pgs in the Book of Mormon everyday this summer to finish the entire book before the beginning of school. He promised strength in your faith if you did it.
My memories of the kids during the conference.... Evelyn took every crayon she could get her hands on and for over an hour she stripped the paper off and broke them in half saying, "Uh-oh, broke!" Ada brought a sticker book and spent a lot of her time sticking the stickers all over herself, Evelyn and Mom. Sam colored, and colored, and colored... Too cute.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
baby update
Since I know that everyone is just dying to know all the intimate details of our life, so here they are. Well, some of them at least.
Since our last visit to the fertility specialist... I've lost 37 lbs but I'm still not ovulating. They're pretty sure they can make me ovulate with Clomid barring some unforseen blockages on my tubes and the like... Jer's sperm has improved a ton. Still not enough there to get pregnant naturally, but there are enough "good" sperm now that we can try IUI. The good news? Sooooo much cheaper than IVF and a heck of a lot easier too. Might have to try it a couple of times to get results, but hoping that something will come of it. Not sure when we're going to try it, but the sooner the better I say... who knows how long of a window we will have for this. In the meantime, I'm going to keep trying to lose weight and see if I can get ovulating. We'll see.
Since our last visit to the fertility specialist... I've lost 37 lbs but I'm still not ovulating. They're pretty sure they can make me ovulate with Clomid barring some unforseen blockages on my tubes and the like... Jer's sperm has improved a ton. Still not enough there to get pregnant naturally, but there are enough "good" sperm now that we can try IUI. The good news? Sooooo much cheaper than IVF and a heck of a lot easier too. Might have to try it a couple of times to get results, but hoping that something will come of it. Not sure when we're going to try it, but the sooner the better I say... who knows how long of a window we will have for this. In the meantime, I'm going to keep trying to lose weight and see if I can get ovulating. We'll see.
Wyoming weekend
Do you know how much I've loved visiting cousins in their homes the last two years? Amy and Jon, James and Em, kind of Jay and Emily, Marg and Matt, and our recent visit with Mary and Jeff's family. We went up to visit, but also because our oldest nephew, Jacob, who stayed with us for a month when he was 13 was graduating high school. Time flies too fast! I am amazed at how Jacob (and his brothers and sisters) have just blossomed into the wonderful people that they are today.
Jacob wants to be a game creator or a programmer... and he'd be very good at it. He's always thinking about how to make this or that better in current games and I remember him creating his own Age of Empires game version back when he was 13. He's fun to talk to and laugh with. He's brave and has really changed over the last 6 years. I look forward to seeing him be a missionary as he grows spiritually and learns to teach the gospel.
Emma is the most amazing and thoughtful person. She is very patient with little kids and knows how to keep their interest... she'd be a very good teacher. She has amazing talent and patience with her artwork. She could become a gallery artist if she wanted... she has the patience and the persistence to do it. I love talking to her about all sorts of subjects and don't feel nervous to talk about Jer and I planning our next baby or her going off to camp during summer. I love her hugs and her marvelous laugh. I kind of see her as a second mom in their household.
Lizzie is out going, not afraid to try anything. Watching her and Emma reminds me of what it was to grow up with my sister as my very close and best friend. Always smiley and up for the sentence game. She will face life and it's challenges with a smile on her face. I love to walk into a room and get one of her smiles.
Joseph is quietly strong. He is smart, sweet and very funny. He cares what is happening to other people and always has a lap open to his baby brother. I've heard him play the piano... and may I just say... wow... Always up for a good game... or twelve. I've had fun getting to know him more closely as he's become less shy. I love his jokes and smiles. You can tell he truly cares for people.
Robert is loving and energetic. He wants to do things for others. He loves to be included with his older brothers. He volunteered to do everything for Sam and Evelyn from helping them into the fort or helping them on the Wii. He has a contagious laugh and a helpful spirit.
Matthew is officially one of Ada's favorite cousins. Old enough to spoil her and young enough to play with her. You can tell he will be a good worker. He is creative, playful and definitely a good digger. Cutest smile ever, and I loved listening to him read while we played Curses together. Love his heart and enthusiasm.
Samuel is offically the cutest "3" year old ever. He's becoming articulate and it was so cute watching Evelyn and him play for hours on end. He adores his family and will love them forever. Love his cheeser smile.
What a fun family and weekend full of games, birthdays, jokes, and digging. Thanks for having us all!
Jacob wants to be a game creator or a programmer... and he'd be very good at it. He's always thinking about how to make this or that better in current games and I remember him creating his own Age of Empires game version back when he was 13. He's fun to talk to and laugh with. He's brave and has really changed over the last 6 years. I look forward to seeing him be a missionary as he grows spiritually and learns to teach the gospel.
Emma is the most amazing and thoughtful person. She is very patient with little kids and knows how to keep their interest... she'd be a very good teacher. She has amazing talent and patience with her artwork. She could become a gallery artist if she wanted... she has the patience and the persistence to do it. I love talking to her about all sorts of subjects and don't feel nervous to talk about Jer and I planning our next baby or her going off to camp during summer. I love her hugs and her marvelous laugh. I kind of see her as a second mom in their household.
Lizzie is out going, not afraid to try anything. Watching her and Emma reminds me of what it was to grow up with my sister as my very close and best friend. Always smiley and up for the sentence game. She will face life and it's challenges with a smile on her face. I love to walk into a room and get one of her smiles.
Joseph is quietly strong. He is smart, sweet and very funny. He cares what is happening to other people and always has a lap open to his baby brother. I've heard him play the piano... and may I just say... wow... Always up for a good game... or twelve. I've had fun getting to know him more closely as he's become less shy. I love his jokes and smiles. You can tell he truly cares for people.
Robert is loving and energetic. He wants to do things for others. He loves to be included with his older brothers. He volunteered to do everything for Sam and Evelyn from helping them into the fort or helping them on the Wii. He has a contagious laugh and a helpful spirit.
Matthew is officially one of Ada's favorite cousins. Old enough to spoil her and young enough to play with her. You can tell he will be a good worker. He is creative, playful and definitely a good digger. Cutest smile ever, and I loved listening to him read while we played Curses together. Love his heart and enthusiasm.
Samuel is offically the cutest "3" year old ever. He's becoming articulate and it was so cute watching Evelyn and him play for hours on end. He adores his family and will love them forever. Love his cheeser smile.
What a fun family and weekend full of games, birthdays, jokes, and digging. Thanks for having us all!
Mary stuck a candle in the homemade salsa that she made on my birthday... (not supposed to eat sugar, remember?) and then we ate it for lunch... YUMMY.
As a side note... we got home in enough time to have our roof really start leaking... we knew that we had a small leak that we'd have to fix when the roof was dry, but it started dripping in our kitchen. Guess what we're going to be doing once the roof dries out... Go on, guess.
Birthday gift
So I haven't really been into knick knacks for a while, but I thought this one was awesome.... My sister, Janelle, gave this one to me based on this picture that she took of me just outside of Notre Dame Cathedral about 14 years ago.
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Rhees Family
This is such a fun family. They're sweet and playful. It's fun to get to know them and try not to freeze in the cold rain! It was...
