Freedom!

School is out!!!!!!!!!!!

I am sleeping in so late tomorrow that people will think I'm a vampire.

Zane and Grey got straight A's, Greyson got straight A's all year in fact. We'll see what the girls got when they are made available to us.

Parker and Zane were not thrilled with my wanting to take a "last day of school" picture like I do every year, but at least they opened their eyes.

One of many reasons I love Matt

Every Thursday evening the girls come by for an hour and a half after Katie's piano lessons in Bountiful. We eat dinner and play, or talk and enjoy the time together, as it seems we have so little sometimes. It's hard, but we make the best of the time we have. Tonight we enjoyed BBQ ribs and corn on the cobb for dinner, looked at the family scrapbook and had story time with Daddy until it was time to go.

Matt does a great reading of "A Bad Case of the Stripes" and it's fun to just sit together and listen to him do all the funny voices, as only he can. His "Hop on Pop" is the stuff legends are made of. I lvoe you so much matt, you are such a wonderful husgand and such an amazing father. You re-defined what a father was to me, as I never knew what it was like as a kid. I am proud to have you by my side and to be in this family with you. You have patience and the ability to stay the course with the kids and you are such an example to me. I see my sons learning how to be a father from you and I take such comfort in that. I have never met a man as wonderful as you, Matt. I love you.

Graduate

Zane graduated from the 6th grade today. It's so weird to have my kids get older and to remember when they were just little and scared to go to school and part of me can't imagine that Roe and Grey will one day be that old, but I couldn't imagine Parker and Zane ever being this old, either.

Zane was voted "Best Leader" and "Most Likely to Succeed" in his class and I was super proud of him. His teacher is really trying to talk him into trying for student government when he enters junior high. We'll see how he feels about it after the summer is over and he can decide.

That infected gland I am taking medication for is hurting again and has moved to the side. I guess I need to make that follow up appointment they told me to make, but-- of course I threw out the discharge papers once I felt I was getting better. Bleah.

Bonnie's Best attempt 1

My first attempt at Bonnie's sourdough biscut recipe. I already know my oven runs hot so I adjusted for the time, but the batch I did on the dark- well used cookies sheet still ended up a little overdone on the bottom. Otherwise, they are really good, especially for my first ever batch of homemade from scratch biscuts. I'd like them to be a little lighter so they will be more like Bonnie's but the flavor is fantastic. You can really taste the sourdough. It will be great when I make biscuts and gravy for dinner tonght.

I'm also making whole wheat bread, so far I can tell it is rasing really well and it will turn out fine as long as I watch my old schitzophrenic oven.

Rain? What Rain?

Today we had planned a family picnic, but it's pouring outside and while I am finally feeling better, I'm pretty pooped.

So, we decided to make the best of it and surprised the kids with a family picnic in the living room, complete with S'mores and a pinata when we were done. The kids were thirilled and had so much fun.

A little whine and moan

Yesterday I was feeling a good deal better than I had been, but today I took a turn for the worse. I woke up with a blinding migraine. I got a blessing from my stepdad, Ted who had stayed overnight last night with my mom. They just finished up a cruise to Italy and Barcelona, I'm excited to see the pictures and hear all about the trip. I have been taking full doses of pain medicine and keeping a heating pad on my neck and still this headache will not go away. Matt and I suspect I slept on it funny and because of all the medicines I was on, I was too out of it to notice and change how I was sleeping. Matt's been really good in taking care of me and I have spent most of the day sleeping. I was disappointed because I was supposed to substitute in Katies primary class and give the opening prayer in sacrament meeting, but there was just no way.

Hopefully whatever I kinked out of place in my neck last night will go back to where it belongs tonight, the migraine could be because I am dehydrated as well. Who knows.

I'm almost through the first decade in my picture sort, the second decade will be easier because it is all more recent and fresh in my ind. Creating and writing down a timeline has proven to be a big help in getting the pics sorted in chronological order.

Yesterday when everyone was gone and it was just Grey, Roe and myself I let Roe do a craft project, and I worked on a layout while she decorated Z's gift bag with every Z sticker she could find. It's nothing fancy and I have almost no memory of assembling it, but here is the layout I did last night.

Memorial Day Halfway Point

So far this weekend has been pretty weird. I spent yesterday in the emergency room in so much pain I nearly passed out from what can only be described as an infected gland deep inside my leg/pelvic area. No reason why I got it, it cannot be seen from the outside but it can be felt and it hurt worse than labor pains. I am on 4 different medications and seem to be feeling better today than yesterday, which means the antibiotics are working and I won't need to have it surgically drained and cleaned, as was a risk.

Matt did yardwork today since out other plans had already been cancelled due to the flakiness of someone else he stumbled across the ipod that Parker lost a year and a half ago. I plugged it in and it still worked. Go figure. It was a little wonky in terms of the software because it had also survived a trip through the wash, so you can't add or remove songs from it, but if anyone loves Green Day and Blink182, it's ready to go,lol.

Matt and the boys are with Aaron at an arena football game. I am home with just Grey and Romy until the girls return. I did Romy's hair-- she whined the whole time that it hurt- that kid has the most tender head I have ever seen. You could comb Jane's hair with sharp rake and she'd be just fine, but if you so much as touch Roe's head with a feather, she begins to wail. I want to get better at braiding hair since Roe is trying to grow her's long and so I practiced these wanna be cornrows on her. She was a whiner, but they sure look cute.

I'm subbing for a primary class tomorrow at church and also giving the opening prayer. Here's hoping I don't royally screw that up with the truckload of pain medicine I am taking.

Eclairs

Romy loves to cook, and she is surprisingly good at it. She can stir a boiling pot on the stove and not get freaked out by it, and not have the food burn, either. She can crack open an egg and not have shells in the bowl. She can tell when foods need extra seasoning or if they are too spicy. She's little but shows more skill in the kitchen than I have seen in a 6 year old before. I can give her instructions and she will actually carry them out quite efficiently.

So I try and include her in the cooking. The other night we made a new dessert- french eclairs. I use to make them when I was a kid, only we didn't have fancy store bought instant pudding to shave an hour off the prep time. The Jell-o stuff wasn't as yummy, but these were still super good. Everyone but Parker loved them.

I got my DVD from Bonnie Hamilton yesterday- I'm excited to try and make the biscuts first.

More oldies, but....oldies

Still going through pictures, thought I'd post a few of my favorites of Sweetie and I that I have come across. A week and a half left of school, and then, I'm sleeping in for a

month.

The Prom that might have been....

Working on scanning old photos of Matt and I from the days before children for my LOM ( library of memories- the photo sorting system I have been working on) and I came across old Prom photos of us both and spent about 10 minutes creating a picture of the Prom that never was. It's an obvious photoshop job, but it had to be done. I would hope that if we had been actually going to the prom together, he'd have been smiling instead of trying to look like Napoleon.

After Parker finished with his ushering duties at stake conference we hit Lagoon again. All of that training yesterday, and basically he showed the elderly where to find soft seats this morning. For my rotten behavior of going to Lagoon on a Sunday I will pay with the massive sunburn I got on the one place I forgot to sunscreen...... the part in my hair. Holy crap it stings. I did this in California as well. I need a bonnet.

Saturday is a special day

Yesterday we went to Lagoon, but it was freakishly crowded and so hot. We took all of the kids on Colossus ( the double loop upside down ride for those who are not from Utah) and it was Jane's first time, she loved it. Funny how our biggest family weenies love the scariest rides once they try them. Jane rode it twice with Daddy and the second time they rode it, the rode broke, leaving them trapped in the train for a good 25 minutes. They were safely in the dock, but unable to move forward to unload, the ride was shut down as they sat there, waiting.
We realized the lines were too long and we would rather choose something else to do since today is stake conference aka "get out of church free" day-- and we could just return and be Sabbath breakers, since we would not be actually missing church.
We decided instead to do something else we love to do as a family, and go to the drive in movie. We've done that a few times, there is a drive in just 3 miles from our house and the younger kids love it. The older boys pouted and hated it, but by the end of the show, they were into it and the 3 little ones were asleep. We saw Prince Caspian and it was pretty good until the last scene where Susan gives Prince Caspian a big stupid smooch and this really cheesy music starts to play. The entire family started to bust a gut laughing at how cheesy it was and the car next to us looked over at us, confused as to why we were laughing so hard. Part of the laughter came from the fact that it was midnight and we were sitting outside in redneck central with 7 kids knowing our car battery just died.
Yeah- the car battery died.
Matt asked a very nice guy who gets to go to the front of the line to heaven for helping us-- for a jump and after a few moments of "oh crap-- it's not the battery" when it wouldn't turn over, it worked and we made it home. To end such a glorious adventure greyson bawled and "Moo'ed" at the top of his lungs the entire drive home.
So today the sinners will be riding "wicked" very fitting, I know.

Bonnie's Best

I swiped this link from Sunnie--
When we were kids growing up in Jerome, Idaho my mom had a close friend named Bonnie Hamilton. Bonnie was the world's BEST cook, hands down. I have many wonderful memories of the fun times we had at Bonnie's house--I played Barbies forever with her younger daughters, they had a Commodore 64 with Frogger on it, she had all of the Value tales books, we would ride horses and just walk around for hours at Standing Hat Ranch. Her daughter Julieene, made me my first mix tape with "new wave" songs on it-- and I was forever hooked on Depeche Mode, The Cure, and The Smiths.

She has just released a DVD of her cooking secrets and I am excited to see what she has come up with.

You will NOT find a better chocolate Chip cookie recipe than Bonnie's anywhere and her bread was always soft and good. My mom also use to make yummy homemade wholewheat bread as well. Bonnie taught me how to make German Pancakes, or "hootenany" as the Olson clan calls it. Bonnie bought me my first pair of Vans-- at The BonMarche' in Boise,lol. Whenevr i eat at Marie Callendar's I thinkof her, because that is where she and my mom would go eat after attending temple sessions in Boise.

So-- way to go Bonnie!! If anyone wants to buy her DVD-- She is an amazing cook and she's not annoying like That Guy Fieri or any of those hacks on Food Network.
http://bonniehamiltonstore.com/about.php

Rolf

I've been Rolf-ing.

Not Rolling on the floor laughing- ROFL-- but Rolf massage.

My mom has a "structural therapist" here in Murray that I have been seeing as well and I am doing the 10 week program. Last week she did my stomach and chest area, I kid you not I left her office standing a full inch and a half taller, very weird.This week, she did my feet and calves and we worked on teaching me how to walk correctly once everything was put wherre it belonged. It was so weird, after she spent 90 minutes on my feet (not some relaxing spa massage work, I'll tell you) my sense of balance was all off and I was told not to wear flip flops anymore.

I'm not giving up flip flops, Sorry. Both sessions have left me covered in bruises, but I leave fealing "right" for lack of a better word. Its not relaxing or calming. It's not soothing, but you leave feeling correct, like your body is balanced and all sorts of new age voodoo I don't really believe in.

Anyway- I am surprised at what a difference it makes in how I feel. We're going to get Matt going to her as soon as we find the time. I am just amazed at what a different experience it is and how it makes me feel.

I have finished Phase 1 of the Photo freedom sort. I have sorted our pictures by decades. Well, basically decades. We have 3 categories, Pre-children, pre-Romy/ scrapbooking, and post Romy. It's funny how many more pictures I have after I started scrapbooking.

The idea now of sorting this nightmare by years......... scares me,lol.

Tulips & Photo Freedom

Greyson and Romy and I finished planting the rest of the roses today, the ones we did last week seem to be doing okay- if they don't bloom this year- I am confident that next year they will do just fine.
The transplanted tulips are not doing so well, but-- I'm sure they will do okay next year also. With that, I think my work on the front yars is done this year, we'll fill up the areas with wood chips and maybe do a trim to line the flowerbeds, but I have met my goals for the front yard.

Z- I think the prognosis for the tulips I gave you may be bleak for this season, but next year-- you'll have lovely tulips to tiptoe through, if you're into that sort of thing.
---
On a scrapping note- I read Photo Freedom by Stacy Julian and decided a few things. I can do her system, and I will give it a shot. Probably.

Are you sure even a mess like me can do this and stick to it, Tamara? It makes me smile to see you in her book. I am so glad we are friends, and you that you don't stink.

Mother's Day

It is not secret that I have never been a fan of Mother's Day. While I love and respect all of the mothers and grandmothers in my life, as a mother, I do not enjoy the holiday. The attention makes me cringe and I get absolutely nauseated at the church events on Mother's Day. I tend to listen to the poor children of narcissitic women talk about how lucky they are as their mothers strut around like peacocks and in reality-- those who demand the most attention and glory on Mother's day-- are the women I think are some of the worst individuals I have ever encountered in my experience.
I know, I have issues, but I prefer my Mother's Day to be alittle less pressure on my family- I want to spend it relaxed, happy and I want all of those I love to feel loved and connected to the whole family. I am just one member of this great family and I want every person to feel special. I don't like the spotlight and I don't like watching others hog it so-- I do a very low key Mother's Day that is more of just a general family fun weekend.
That's my rant--I'm over it now. :)

So this year we had a BBQ and a picnic in the back yard and made banana splits afterwards. We all watched a movie together--Phantom of the Opera-- and on Sunday-- I was surprised with a fancy breakfast in bed of yogurt and instant breakfast ( actually that's my favorite) and some gifts and cards.
I have to say my favorite gift was a book Romy made me in school. We had been doing a lot of planting that week and Romy REALLY enjoyed it. Since Romy is 6-- the fact that SHE enjoyed it, meant I enjoyed it,lol. When you are 7 and you cannot see that other people are not you, it's cute. When you're 39, it's psychotic.

Anyway- click the picture for a better look, it's pretty funny. And for the record, I don't like meatloaf, but it is one of her favorite dishes I cook,lol.

Lots of pictures in this post, but it was a great weekend and everyone had a happy, fun time.

Farmin'

Also-- tomatoes were planted yesterday.
My black thumb is polished and ready to go and the cycle of death begins......

I have a compost pile/container now. I have tomato plants. My overalls have dirt on the knees. I don't know how I feel about that.

moving on down

I am not a huge believer that dreams have much to do with anything but what you ate before bed or what you were watching on TV before falling asleep, but that's not to say they are worthless and that I don't consider the things pink elephants whisper into my ear at night.

Last night I dreamed that instead of converting the two bedrooms and bathroom on our main floor into a master suite and adding a small water closet, that Matt and I just made our master bedroom inthe unfinished basement and we moved the 3 little kids into these two rooms.

I woke up and thought about it and realized how much cheaper and easier that would be. No demolition, not removing and re-routing pipes, we have a blank slate downstairs and when we sell this house it's the upstairs bedroom that will be used as the official "master suite" anyway on the listing. This will be so much less money and work, plus, the room we use as our master bedroom can be bigger than what we had planned up on the main floor.

I'm excited and my brain is thinking about floor layouts and big bathtubs again. Much more affordable and much less work. I don't know why we didn't think to do it before. We will need to make the basement window wells bigger, but we planned to do that anyway.



Thank you Z & Aaron for picking up the flowers last night and visting with us. Sorry again about the special type of Tourette's we have. We'll be thinking about you as we head out to the Rodeo grounds this afternoon......( does that joke even translate in blog format?Sorry.)



Anyway- I just wanted to write out my new design ideas that still won't happen for at least a year and I also wanted an excuse to post this picture:

How cute are these kids?

Roe loves Dad

Not high quality pictures, but they make me smile. I like having pictures of things that make me smile.

How will our garden grow?

It's spring. I hope. Everytime we get a few warm days, we get a snowstorm and the whole valley is just waiting and waiting for spring to finally start. With only 3 more weeks until summer vacation for the kids, it's time to put the winter coats away-- I hope.

We are tripling the size of our garden this year-last year we managed to kill 6 strawberry plants and 8 raspberry plants and grow about 6 zuchinni and 5 pumpkins.

We need to till the ground and get the garden started soon after Mother's Day but we have the area sectioned off and I am going to do a better job with the weeds this year, I hope. We already planted asparagus and some sunflowers a few days ago and the new garden will have zuchinni, butternut squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, and acorn squash. We also plan to plant a cherry tree this year and hopefully in a few years will have some fruit.

We're also doing more work on the front yard, we transplanted some of the tulips that were growing randomly in the back yard lawn to the front and added two more rose bushes- I have 4 more to add as well. We also planted flowers areound the base of the big tree in our front yard. I HATE doing planting in the front due to the river rock addiction of the previous owners. I HATE river rock and it's a pain in the butt to remove and deal with, but it must be done, my quick fix last year of covering everything with cedar chips has to be dealt with and we need some full green plants with pretty flowers in front of our house.

If anyone in the family wants our surplus tulips we pulled up, come get them soon because they won't last more than a few more days stored in the garage. We have about 40 leftover, they'll go in the compost pile next week.

Keys of the Priesthood

This is Matt: Today Parker was set apart as the Teachers Quorum President, and Zane as the First Counselor in the Deacons Quorum. I feel like it is important to sit down and write some of the things that were said before we forget.

Parker was told by the Bishop that he had leadership ability beyond what he knows he has. He was told that the Lord has already decided where he wants to send him on a mission and that he should prepare for that, and that there are people that if he doesn't reach them no one else will be able to. It was clear that the choices are up to him, and he will do as much or as little as he motivates himself to do. That is an awesome responsibility, but he is an awesome guy.

Zane was told that he is an important example to his "sisters and brother". I believe that refers to the younger kids, who all look up to him more than he knows. Especially Kate and Greyson. He fights with Greyson constantly, and he and Kate are holy terrors when they get together, but it's the closeness of the relationship that makes their interactions so strong. So I guess in a way I am saying I'm glad they cause so much trouble and/or shouting. I must be out of my mind.

They talked to Zane about being a leader in the community to all the kids his age, whether they are members of the ward or not. He needs to be a leader whether there are two people in the quorum or twenty. He was told several times to "make choices", which is very hard for Zane.

He was very strong about telling both the boys that they were needed, and that they were capable, and it is up to them to choose it.

Sweet Sarah

Sarah, my niece was also baptized today, so Jane's not the NEWEST member of the church in the family, but she's still new,lol. Sarah's baptism was nice and sweet. Her Aunt Melissa and Uncle Jake gave talks since she was the only one being baptized. It was really nice and I'm glad we were able to have a day like today, full of the spirit and family time. After her baptism, my nephew John came over to play for a few hours and then we went out to a new BBQ place for dinner as a family. The place was TERRIBLE, but trying new places is always fun.

I am exhausted and ready to snuggle my cute hubby and sleep for a long time.

Introducing.....

the newest member of the church! Jane was baptized today and everything went very well. Thank you to all of the family who attended and who gave thier love and support not just for Jane but for Matt and I. We felt safe, calm and were able to enjoy ourselves and focus on Jane, as it should have been. Jane was ecstatic and had a great morning and ordinance. It would not have happened without all of you, words cannot express the thankfulness we have for our loved ones for helping us through what has been a really difficult time. Thank you.

The plague

It's been a sick week. Matt is sick and has been to the clinic at work twice. The picture is of he and I in bed- all day yesterday-- even though I don't have the plague everyone else has, I had a terrible migraine. Today Matt's lungs sounded wonky, but they'll recheck him tomorrow and if it is worse, they will have him to more than "man up." All of the kids are home today, sick. Parker, Zane and Grey have already missed one day at school this week.

With 4 sick kids and a sick hubby I get to miss cub scouts, but I'll still stop in and say hi.

I'm making homemade chicken noodle soup and the kids are all in thier PJ's playing Mario Kart on the Wii.