Legal Driver

For the last 2 months she has been an illegal driver in the emergencies of pick ups and drop offs. But now Erika can drive day and night and without a 21 year old licensed driver in the passenger seat. This will come in handy for our long drive to Texas in the summer.

When she first started driving I was a bit concerned about her gusto confidence that seemed a bit inattentive at times. Then we (Erika and I) were in a small fender bender that was the result of only a brief moment of distraction on the other drivers part. She seemed to learn from that experience that it doesn't take much to lose focus and even a small, slow speed accident can cause major damage. Since then she has calmed down and been a bit more cautious. So, even with all the teasing she is currently getting about people moving now that she has her license, I am comfortable sending her around town. Not quite to Idaho Falls by herself yet but that will come with more time, experience and probably necessity.

Afterschool Snack

Levi's Birthday List

He must think 18 is special or something because this list is longer and more detailed than any Christmas list he's ever given me! My favorite is the "pyramid of fresh chalupas (stacked at least 10 high)". That I can do. The money lists at the bottom . . . hmmm . . . how many Monopoly games could I find at DI?



As I sat at my computer this morning I was a little confused at the website staring me in the face. And then I realized it was for Affliction clothing. Levi is so great at leaving subtle hints.

I've had more than enough whining!

Nathan is the big offender this week. His form of communication tends to run along the lines of a foot stomp, angry eyes, raised eyebrows and a long, drawn out whine followed up with his head thrown back on the verge of a crying meltdown. My sweet pre-Christmas cherub has turned into a ticking I-want-things-my-way whine bomb. I realize that his routine is far from normal living on a holiday schedule with everyone home for two weeks and that he has probably consumed enough sugar to put him into a diabetic coma so I'm trying to be patient. Or it's just trying my patience.

In an attempt to help him replace the whine with reasonable communication, we sat on his bed for a talk. I offered the advice to "Stop. Take a breath. Talk without whining." when things were not going his way. Then we did some role playing.

Me: "You want Justin to put the movie on for you but he tells you that mom said no. What do you do?"

Nathan: (hesitantly) "Stop. Take a breath. But mom, I want to watch a movie!"

Let's try again . . .

Me: "It's time to take naps but you don't want to go to bed. What do you do?"

Nathan: "I don't like to take naps."

Me: (after a little blurb on sometimes we need to do things that we don't want to because they are right, like taking a nap so that our bodies can grow and be healthy) "You want a drink of milk and mom asks you to wait a minute while she finishes changing Hyrum's diaper. What do you do?"

Nathan: "Stop. Take a breath. Talk without whining."

Whew! He finally got it. It has become our saying around the house. Everyone is using it on everyone else at the least provocation.

Justin, Derek, Nathan and I were playing Mario on the Wii, sitting on the two large beanbags. Hyrum kept jumping from bag to bag, landing on my body every other jump. After several attempts at trying to get him to stop, while still focusing on the game, I started to lose it. And then out of my wise Nathan came the advice, in a very strong tone of voice, "STOP! Take a breath. Talk without yelling."

Isn't there some parental scape-clause along the lines of "do as I say, not as I do"? Perhaps "a little child shall lead them" would be a better mantra. Either way, Nathan got it and is, on a good percentage, living it. I, on the other hand, have some work to do.

What's for dinner?

In a very lazy, vacation attitude I announced that we were finishing leftovers for dinner. There wasn't quite enough for everyone, which left the Raman lovers happy.

Then Nathan spoke up, "I don't want Raman. Can I have a salad with carrots and ranch dressing please?"

If Hyrum gets his way he'll be eating "hah dods" or "stills" or "ohh ahss". Hmmm, hotdogs, skittles, and fruit snacks just don't sound that nutritious.

Meals have been very flexible around here for the past week. I'm craving healthy stuff, the older kids are doped up on holiday sugars and the little boys eat somewhere in between. At some point we will get back to our regularly scheduled meal planning but I don't think it will be this week.

The Best Christmas Ever

Nathan was helping me clean up the wrapping paper. While wandering around the room picking up garbage he kept saying the same thing over and over again, frequently pausing to give me hugs. He wasn't really talking to me or expecting a response he just seemed to be verbalizing his thoughts. I quickly grabbed the camera. After his dramatic pause he added a blurb for me. I love the humble wonder and tender love in his expression and words!



I'm pretty sure he means ever instead of never which makes his statement a perfect description

of our Christmas this year.

Erika Jo

had a very full November.

One night she was standing next to me while I was playing the piano and when I looked up I saw this shadow on the wall. We couldn't resist a picture.

She had been napping most of the day so her pony tail was flying all over the place and she had a hoodie on. She made me promise that I wouldn't show what she looked like, just the cool shadow that it made.

After almost 3 months of practices, costume fittings, painting backdrops and a whole lot of goofing off the high school was ready for their production of The Music Man. I was expecting a wimpy high school drama club show but the night quickly turned into a fun, comedic, very well done performance. With the school orchestra in the pit, mounds of enthusiasm from the students, great backdrops that filled the stage and perfectly chosen main character actors the night was a blast. If the final night had not been sold out (which left over 500 people turned away in the waiting area and a blurb in the Rexburg Standard Journal) I would have gone again.

Bri and Erika

There's trouble in town!

Getting the hair ready . . . and brushing out the ratting

Erika was one of the townspeople, which was pretty much a background, fill-the-stage role but she also had a couple of lines and was in two of the dance numbers where the townspeople sing and dance. It was so fun to see her take on a character and really lose herself in it.

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Erika has wanted to color her hair darker for quite some time but has always been hesitant, not only because it's impossible to know what how your hair will take the color but also because of the cost. Her best friend bought a box of coloring and together they did Bri's hair and because it turned out so well Erika took the plunge and bought a box of coloring the next night. She did hold off doing it until family pictures were done in case she hated it but after it was done we wished she had had it done before the picture. We all love it!

November also brought a very big birthday for Erika. She turned 16!!! Her best friend Bri (and Bri's mom) threw a big party for her. They decorated the gym at the church, invited lots of friends, played silly games and ate all of Erika's favorite junk foods. Bri filled her camera with pictures but I haven't downloaded them from her yet. She also had a surprise in each of her classes that day which was fun for me to arrange (some teachers willingly went along with it and embellished the surprise, some act like I was messing up their whole syllabus). She also had a very big first date . . . with her dad. Her young women's leader brought over this cake for her:

By the time November was over Erika literally slept for 2 days. She had been fighting the colds that we were all passing around the family but it caught up with her big time once she slowed down. She didn't hang out with friends, didn't get on the computer, didn't talk on the phone, didn't even eat. She just slept. Once she woke up she realized that a months worth of laundry was piled on her floor and that I was not kidding when I told her that it had to be cleaned up. Her room was beginning to stink. Bri came over again and after an hour in their room Bri came to get me. "You gotta see this, it's awesome! Bring the camera."

I was imagining a spotless room with the sun shining in and lovely music playing. First of all, we probably won't see the sun until next spring. Second, Z103 doesn't play "lovely" music. Third, I couldn't see the floor at all:

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They thought it was so wonderful that Erika was in the bottom of the pile of clothes and I couldn't even tell she was there. She poked her head out, I took a deep breath and smiled and laughed and took pictures and walked out wondering how many years it would take her to clean that mess up. To my astonishment, they came back in about 20 minutes and with 3 baskets of laundry sitting in the laundry room and 2 full bags of garbage by the back door it was a spotless (well, close) room. Why, oh why, didn't I take a picture of that? Oh yeah, I have sworn an oath to not post any pictures of her room until the walls are all finished. Skittles theme, none colors. Posting a picture of a mound of clothes gives nothing away.

Boy Stuff

Justin was cutting the onions for taco soup one night. He couldn't believe that someone has not created a way to prevent crying while cutting onions. I'm not sure if he thought the glasses were to prevent the strong onion odor from burning his eyes or just a coverup for the tears.

This is what entered my sewing room one night. Nathan screamed like I have never heard him scream before. He was very relieved when the pumpking head was removed and Derek's head popped up through the neck of the jacket.

Caytlyn got an ipod touch for her birthday so now the latest game at our house is the mini dance dance revolution type game on her ipod. Has anyone heard of "tired pointy finger" syndrome? Levi has it.

Ralph's ah-ha pose . . .

Nathan's thinking pose . . .

This is his response to any question. He won't pose on demand so we've started asking really random questions just to get him to pose for us. "What's the 6th letter of the alphabet?"

Keeping up with Hyrum

Typical bedtime routine: jammies, drinks, story, prayer, jump on the bed, giggle in the dark, eventually fall asleep






We did put up and decorate our Christmas tree. Hyrum undecorated it. After 2 broken ornaments we decided to leave it his way.

Nathan loves to play Hide and Seek. He taught Hyrum a really great hiding place and now Hyrum will go there by himself and sit quietly until found. Of course it helps that he can entertain himself with a box full of dishwasher gel packs. He always leaves his feet sticking out because it is "gork" (dark) if he lets the doors close all the way.

Flower Endorphins

This morning I woke up with an unusual desire to exercise. I haven't done one bit of exercise in any form for over 2 weeks due to my injury. You wouldn't think that cutting off part of my finger would prevent me from aerobic activity but even a quick trip up the stairs or hurrying across the house to get the phone got my heart pumping just enough to bring on the painful throbbing in my open growing wound.

Who starts exercising 1 week before Christmas? Isn't that supposed to come 1 week after Christmas in a determination to repent of the past year of exercise ignorance? Well, what motivated me to exercise this morning was the constant puffy state that I have been living in. You know, the one that is brought on by too many carbs and sugars and not near enough greens and veggies. I decided I was sick of living on the verge of a headache and I was the only one who could take control of it.

I stuck in a new DVD that was given to me for my birthday:

I nearly died this morning! As my heart started pumping I was able to ignore the slight increase of throbbing in my finger but what really got to me was the sugar slugging through my system, reminding me of the 2 week emotional binge that I had succumbed to. Previously I had been able to make it through the entire 45 minute torture but this morning I barely made it through 30 minutes and plopped to the ground in an attempt to stretch my exhausted muscles.

As I lay there I realized the obvious: my abs have sagged to flabs, I have jiggles in places that haven't jiggled since my last baby was born, I was so out of breath that I sounded like a panting dog, and I might not make it off the floor for the rest of the day. All because of 2 weeks neglect? Really, it has been complete neglect for the last 2 weeks but prior to that I was only halfheartedly giving any attention to my physical needs. And now I am paying for it. So one week before Christmas I am determined to get this saggy body toned up.

If any of you show up at my door this week you better have a bag of carrots NOT a plate of sugar. The kids have strict orders to eat, hide or throw away any sugar that comes our way BEFORE they tell me who brought what.

I headed upstairs to put together a healthy breakfast for myself, feeling a bit discouraged at the acceptance of what I have let happen to myself, and this is what I saw:

How could I not be cheered by this? It is the middle of winter and on my kitchen counter sits a vase of gorgeous summer blossoms in all of my favorite colors! I don't think any happy endorphins made their way through my sugar sludge system during my 30 minute attempt at exercise but one look at this beautiful evidence of love sent a surge of happiness that healed my battered attitude and put a smile on my face. No long could I droop in my lazy past.

As I made breakfast I thought back 2 days to the special delivery that came to my door. It was a long box from a flower company (of course not anything from Rexburg, since there seem to only be 4 flowers available in our frozen city). Inside were special instructions for clipping, watering and arranging the buds so that 12-24 hours later they would blossom into a full bouquet of color. Even the setting up of the flowers was a gift. I felt like I was out in my garden. I loved clipping the stems and carefully putting it all together. It seemed like such a summery thing to do, which I completely enjoyed as I mentally put on hold the cold gloomy winter awaiting me outside.

If a watched pot never boils it could also be said that a watched bud never blossoms. I went to bed imagining what they might look like the next morning. Throughout the next day the tightly closed buds began to open their colorful petals and by the time I went to bed the 2nd night I was catching a glimpse of just how beautiful they would be in full bloom. The next morning when I dragged my tired body upstairs and saw them sitting on the counter they took my breath away and put an immediate smile on my face.

The typed card that came with the flowers didn't have a name on it. For 2 days I wondered who would have sent me such a wonderful surprise. It was an enlightening exercise realizing that I have many wonderful friends and family members who would do something so thoughtful. I really could not pick out one person that I could absolutely be sure had done it. Then in an e-mail exchange I found out that it was my sister-in-law. Jessica, you gave more than flowers. You relieved my discouragement and brightened my spirit after a very tough month. Thank you!