"It's like riding a bicycle..."

I found out today there is truth behind this saying. This morning we went to REI to look at a bike for Holly. I think this was the first time I had ever seen her ride a bike (10 years is a long time), at least one not stuck in front of a tv at the YMCA. Here is a picture. She did pretty well on a test drive in the parking lot.

10 Years!

Happy Anniversary Fletcher!

Picnic

Tonight Justin met me and the kids at the park. He brought Pizza Hut for dinner. The girls and I agreed that Pizza Hut pales in comparison to Papa John’s (I’m pretty sure Jason also agreed); nevertheless, we were grateful for the greasy grubb.

We have an amazing view of Mt. Rainier from our house and the weather was perfect!

After we ate, the kids did their thing, while I started my third book this week (very unlike me, but that’s what happens when all the books you’ve placed holds on come in at the same time).

Abigail was excited to show us how much she’s improved on the bars. I was very impressed that she can do a flip while hanging on to the bar.

Jason was just excited to be outside.

Sharing

(Jason would now like to trade in all his binkies for ring pops)

More from Utah

Another highlight of our trip to Utah was spending the day on Antelope Island. Apparently we visited Antelope Island every year when I was a child, but because my memory totally stinks, it was a new adventure to me. It was really beautiful.

The Great Salt Lake was absolutely still so the mountains reflected perfectly on the water.

We walked around an old cattle ranch. It was fun to walk through the old buildings and see all the old equipment and appliances they used. Our wildlife sightings included bison, antelope, rabbits, birds and horses. Jason enjoyed playing with a large beetle we found on our hike (please send me that picture B).

Jason really wanted to go play with the bison

We let him play with this one instead


We also hiked up Buffalo Point.

The older kids reached the top of the mountain first


The kids participated in a city-sponsored Easter egg hunt on Saturday.

This is basically the extent of Jason’s egg gathering this year – not too interested


The girls also participated in the Easter Dive at the local aquatic center.

Abigail loved playing in the pool afterward with her cousins


Easter Sunday was a beautiful day. After church we had a delicious dinner at my sister’s house. The kids participated in their third Easter egg hunt. I think we hid as many eggs for our 11 kids as the city did. Most of the kids’ baskets were overflowing. Once again Jason completely missed the idea of gathering eggs... maybe next year he'll catch on.

Jason was much more interested in eating candy

Carly’s basket was heavy even without any Easter eggs.

Being the outdoorsman that he is, Jason spent the majority of the afternoon and evening playing outside under the watchful eye of his sisters and cousins. That’s one of the great things about having a big family - lots of people to play with. I seriously saw very little of my kids this past week.

A bonding moment between Jason and his cousin Griffin

My brother in Iowa made a last minute decision to come to Utah for Easter weekend so we had all six siblings together. The only family members missing were three of my nieces – we sure missed seeing them!

The kids and their loot

We broke out the Wii Fit for a little entertainment/embarrassment. The ridiculous contraption gave me a Wii Fit age of 44, three years older than my not-so-little little brother and 11 years older than my "overweight" husband... what's up with that!?!

Justin ski-jumping

The adults also played a little badminton. I can't say I'm any good, but I had a blast and I'm looking for someone to play tennis with me - anyone game?

Great action shot Justin – I think I even hit this one!

Spending Easter with family was wonderful. Of course the true reason for the holiday is to remember the sacrifice of our Savior, this is a wonderful video clip. As we tucked the girls into bed Sunday night Abigail teared up as she expressed how sad she feels every time she has to say good-bye to our family. We sure miss them! Thanks for the great time!

Thus Far...

After nearly 14 hours in the car we arrived in Utah late Friday night. Because of snow storms we took an even longer route through Portland in order to avoid having to put chains on the van. The kids did amazingly well during the long drive, they have much more patience than me. Jason didn't lose it even once (however, he did lose his lunch) - that's always fun.

Saturday morning arrived way too soon as me and my Mom took an early train to SLC to attend the first session of General Conference at the Conference Center. Neither of us had been before. It was a neat experience to hear from the leaders of our church. After a quick lunch at Z'Tejas we heading back home in time for Justin to attend the Priesthood meeting in Salt Lake. Sunday was another full day of conference, but it was enjoyable to watch it on TV, in my PJs, surrounded by family. Lots of great talks.

I can't believe we're already nearing the end of our visit. The kids can't get enough of their cousins. My younger brother and his family are living with my Mom so there's always someone for the kids to play with. We've had some fun outings this week.

We took the kids to the Dinosaur Park

After the Dinosaur Park we visited my Dad's grave.

Girls night out with my sisters (and sister-in-laws) at the Melting Pot was lots of fun and super delicious... thanks Mom!!

Another first for me was visiting the Hill Air Force Base Museum. I can't say I have much interest in history or airplanes, but I wanted my kids to see the place where my Dad enjoyed volunteering as a tour guide for many years. In a way it was sad to be there and I felt regret that I never showed any interest in something my Dad enjoyed so much. He loved showing the planes to kids and was a favorite tour guide among all that visited. Despite my disinterest in history I wish my Dad could have told us every boring detail about each and every airplane in the museum.


I hadn't been back to my childhood home in five years so we decided to drive through my old neighborhood. Things certainly have changed. The owners of the house removed most of the trees I grew up playing around and put in a huge RV pad. My Dad's flower garden (we called it his "park") has been torn out for the new pool they are putting in the backyard. The deck we watched lightening storms and the sunset over the Great Salt Lake has been removed. Strange to see. Someday I'd really like to go back inside even though I know walls have been removed and little would resemble the place I called home for over 25 years.


Today we took all the kids to see Monsters vs. Aliens at the theatre. Abigail described it as "ok"... it was entertaining, but certainly not a DVD we will purchase. This was Jason's first time at a movie theatre - he did great.Of course there's been lots of eating out, running errands, and spending time with friends and family. Good times.

Anything

Since my last post I’ve felt the need to post something new on the blog… a little blogger’s remorse I guess. Nothing like a little humiliation to see the error of my ways. I’ll have you know that my old yellow blanket has not entered my bedroom since. Justin says that even the DI won’t take it, but it still seems like such a waste to throw away.

We were bummed that once again our Saturday is a rainy one, where is spring already? The girls enjoyed spending most of the afternoon at a birthday party at the local skating rink and now we're off to spend the evening having dinner and games with friends.

And just for something new, here’s a picture of Jason helping Daddy in the garage.

Our First Night Together

Growing up every 4th of July my family would head down to Layton High School to watch the fireworks put on by the city. We did our best to find the perfect spot, unobstructed by trees and as close to the action as possible. We laid out enough blankets so we could all comfortably lay down and enjoy the show. One year we got the perfect spot. Or so we thought. Once the firework show started we found ourselves being rained on by hot ashes. One of our blankets burned in several different areas. My Dad contacted the city. I’m sure more out of concern for the safety of the patrons than about the ruined blanket. The city apologized and issued him a check for $50 to cover the cost of the blanket. The blanket didn’t get thrown away though, and sometime thereafter I adopted it as my own. The damaged areas were quite bad, the fabric so charred that it would break off. So I took it upon myself to patch it up with some of my Mom’s random scraps of fabric. The blanket has traveled with me ever since. It has been through four years of college and ten years of marriage. There are several areas were the fabric has completely worn away exposing what little batting remains. It’s ugly. It’s faded. It’s completely worn thin. I find pieces of it’s guts on my bedroom floor. Last year I finally got some decent bedding. With strong encouragement from Justin I tried to sleep without my old yellow blanket. I probably lasted a month without it, but it somehow found its way from the closet back onto my bed at night. It’s soft, lightweight, and smooshable, no blanket less than 10 years old will feel the same way. I know - I sound crazy. I’m pretty sure I’m well past the age where it is acceptable to have a blankie.

torn, patched and worn thin

nothing but a few scraps of batting inside

I recently purchased a new blanket with the hopes that it would provide the same warmth and function as the old and I could finally retire my tattered yellow blanket for good. However, I have commitment issues so the new blanket remained unopened for weeks. Until last night when Justin took it upon himself to put the new blanket on our bed. So how did it our first night go? It took me over an hour to fall asleep. Was that because my mind runs 24/7 or was it because I didn’t have my yellow blanket???

A Tooth Lost

The day after Carly turned five she discovered her very first loose tooth. I was surprised. Is she already old enough to lose her baby teeth? Abigail lost her first tooth in pre-school too so I guess it’s time to start the cycle again. It’s been loose now for weeks, but there was still a lot of tooth hiding under her gums. But yesterday she asked me to pull it out. I’ll admit it wasn’t completely her idea. I’m a blackhead squeezing, sunburn peeling, teeth pulling maniac… I think it’s in my genes. We were surprised to find that the tooth fairy came by last night and left a dollar under Carly’s pillow (the tooth fairy has been known to totally flake in the past).

First tooth in:

6 months old – just peeking through the gums

7 months old

First tooth out:

In the Course of a Day

We decided to follow through with our pediatricians recommendation and get Jason’s speech (or lack of speech) evaluated. Jason and I met with two very nice therapists last week (a speech pathologist and an occupational therapist). They asked a lot of questions and observed his abilities in a variety of areas. But because they can’t watch him 24/7 they relied on me to answer many questions. Shouldn’t be too difficult right, I mean I spend all day, every day with my little guy so I should know the answers… but I didn’t. “Can he do this ________?”, or “Does he know how to ______?”, “Has he made the sound______?”, etc… I must have looked like the most disconnected mother as I struggled to answer their questions. I wanted to be as honest as possible and not just say “yes he can” because I think that maybe he can. One of the questions they asked was if he can point to his body parts. Finally a question I could answer with 100% certainty. I proudly listed all the body parts Jason knows. Of course they wanted to see the boy in action, but he ignored my request completely. Throughout the evaluation I tried (unsuccessfully) to get Jason to point to any part of his body… nothing. Today we had a meeting to go over his IFSP (Individualized Family Service Plan) and included in the assessment was the following statement, “Although Jason did not identify any body parts during this assessment, his mother shared (translation: insisted repeatedly) that he independently identifies his head, tummy, ears, nose, and teeth.” (She failed to mention he also knows his hands, feet, eyes, and tongue).

Another question seemed simple enough, “What does Jason do during the day?” I told them Jason plays with his sisters a lot, but they wanted to know details. I explained that Jason is totally into anything with wheels and that you’ll usually see him carrying around some sort of car or train. Today I decided to document Jason’s chosen daily activities.

Office Bookshelf – an obstacle course just to get there

Master Bath – passing time while I get ready

Kitchen Table – eating a snack before leaving for appointment


In the Car – “What’s with all the pictures Mom?”


TV Stand – pausing to look adorable


My Desk – “Hey Mom can you move over a little?”

Heading Upstairs

Bathroom – “Can you give us some privacy? Percy needs to take a bath (in the toilet of course).”

Living Room

While getting his diaper changed


In the Kitchen cupboards

Off Roading in the Pantry

Good Things

• Today is a no school day
  
• Abigail got Jason out of his crib so I got to sleep in
  
• When I got up the girls had already made their bed, cleaned their room, cleaned their bathroom and were putting the finishing touches on the playroom (I know you’re insanely jealous – I’ve got GREAT kids)
  
• I heard birds chirping this morning
  
• I made the kids pancakes for breakfast (they think I’m the best Mom. Don’t tell them other Mom’s actually cook breakfast without slave labor involved)
  
• The sun is shining
  
• I decided not to go to the gym (only made it once this week)
  
• The kids spent the rest of the morning outside playing with the neighborhood kids
  
• I did some weeding while making sure Jason didn’t run into the street and get hit by a car (he didn’t)
  
• The girls help straighten up the rest of house (earning Nintendo DS privileges)
  
• Justin and I have a babysitter tonight (and I didn’t have to call 15 girls to find one, the first girl I asked accepted)
  
• Justin and I get to see a family get sealed in the Seattle temple tomorrow (I’ve never been to sealing with children involved, it will be a great day)
  
• I only had to call two babysitters to find one available tomorrow
  
• Jason and Abigail are both napping
  
• Carly is cleaning up the shoes
  
• My house smells yummy thanks to the Scentsy my sister gave us
• Justin brought home Cadbury eggs for me last night (only one left... that's not a good thing)
  
• So far nobody’s sick today (although Abigail napping is a bit unusual…)
• and just now (an hour after original post) someone delivered cookies to my door with a sweet card... what a fabulous Friday the 13th!

Any Favorites?

I basically lived in the same house my whole pre-adult life (minus my first year). On the wall above our kitchen table my Mom displayed a current picture of each of her six children. We have a similar wall in my kitchen today. I’m having a hard time deciding what pictures to print of each of the kids… what are your favorites?

Here’s a few more to consider:

New Pictures

Jason hasn’t had his pictures taken since he was 7 months old so last month I scheduled a session. It happened to be a no school day for the kids so she took pictures of Abigail and Carly too. I just got the CD in the mail today and had to share my favorites. Jason was totally uncooperative… to busy to sit still and smile so I’m amazed we actually got some decent shots.

She was only able to take a couple pictures of the kids together before Jason was done for good - I love this one!

Ready to take off...


The photographer really liked this one and posted it on her blog. His expression is adorable, but his head looks ginormous.



This one just makes me happy!


Near the end we headed outside for some outdoor shots. This is the only picture she took. Jason is pulling Abigail’s hair cause he wanted to get down and play.