Singing

Last night we drove up to Brigham City to watch Kate performing in the choir, she had a solo part.

She did a really great job and we're mucho proud of her.

Matt's glad to see she's following in his footsteps.

Did you know he sings?

Not like he did in high school and college.....

but the ward choir and his adoring wife still love to hear him sing.

Stuff I've done

I've been working on some projects around the house.

There are always projects around the house. If they aren't here, heaven knows I'll create them.

Every year, about late winter I start to go a little stir crazy and before the spring cleaning urge hits, the winter remodel bug bites me.

That bug bites me all of the time, actually.

I think Matt has learned to accept that every 3 months, I go and spend a hundred bucks on paint and create a big mess he has to help me clean up and thankfully, he loves me anyway.

Last week, I decided I was tired of the ugly odd-sized cupboard we have above the microwave.

It once was a regular cupboard with doors that fit, but when we put the microwave up above the stove, we cut it down and it's just been open and a place for kids to shove junk in ever since. It's too high to be very useful, but open enough to be a crap magnet.

So, I went to the garage and scrounged some wood and made this:

It was just an open cupboard, now it has a shelf that is the exact right size to line up my spiffy IKEA spice jars.

I need to finish repairing the space where it touches the wall, but that has been half done for four years.

It's an old house and everything needs to be repaired here, but at least it is now functional and I don't have 8 open bags of cereal shoved up there.

I also created this out of supplies I picked up at Lowe's. 

I have this big blank wall in the living room and I wanted something subtle but sizable to fill the empty space. I am happy as can be with this creation.

The kids were challenged to figure out the code on it.

Most of them figured it out in about 5 minutes, it took Jane a little longer but she figured it out, too.

Can you crack the code?

Life After Disneyland

 2012 hasn't been a banner year for blogging so far, I guess.

It's not because we aren't doing things

It's not because I've lost interest in blogging.

It's mostly because I lost that freaking camera battery charger and no matter how many times I tell myself my cell phone pictures are just fine, it's not the same.

They almost always look like obvious cell phone pictures, even with photoshop help.

And really I like taking pictures. 

With my camera.

So, on Saturday,I ordered a new battery charger- 20 bucks. I decided to order a new battery as well just to make sure I never went without a charged camera again as well- 20 more bucks.

On Sunday I found my lost charger.

Welcome to my life.

We do still manage to have a great one.

On Saturday we attended Matt's 5th Bowling for Kid's Sake event with Big Brothers Big Sisters. 

The first year, he went with his work team, I think I started coming the second year. This year, Matt filled his team (and created a  new one!) with our family. This will probably be his last BFKS event and we wanted to show the kids some of what Matt does in the community and we're dork, so we're always up for bowling. Kate noted that it was yet another chance for us to all get matching shirts. 

So here you have it...The Olsons go bowling.......

 Team Spy's Kids

 We won a Barbie in the raffle. Roe could not have been less thrilled, but Jane played with it for hours.

 So happy to have pizza!!

Pretty girl

 Grey got surprisingly competitive, but only with Dad. I don't know if he won on his own or if Matt let him, but he won the last game and was quite proud of that feat.

When they weren't sitting talking about how cool they were to be bowling, they were rocking out......

 Silly little beasties. I love 'em.

--

On a  sadder note, two dear friends lost members of their family this weekend. 

My love and heart go gout to the Johnson Family for the loss of your sweet mother

and it also goes out and aches for the loss of their 17 year old son to the Randall Family. 

May peace and comfort get you through.

I love you all.

You Met Another and Pfft You Were Gone....

For Christmas Matt gave me a gift card to Amazon.com. In this house, Amazon is where Santa's elves live and many of our gifts come through them. So, I guess Santa lives in California. I can't say I blame him, the weather was so wonderful when we went out. All of the kids asked why we don't live there.

I mumbled something about liking seasons and hating palm trees and tried to convince myself seasons were way better than being able to check your mail every day without needing to put on a snow parka.

Anyway- my point.

My camera battery charger is straight up missing and I didn't have the ability in California to take nice pictures, so even though the cell phone was fine and it helped me focus on other things, I still want my darn camera to work.

I feel like I have nothing to post here without a few shots of whatever random thing I've done during the week and I need to either find the charger or buy a new one. I looked all last week and I can' t find it.

So, I went to Amazon to just buy one.

They just have everything.

They had my charger---Success!!

But before I could get to the checkout page, I was disctracted by this...

And instead of using my gift card to buy what I needed, I now have the complete series of Gidget on it's way.

I loved watching that show as a kid, I always tried to hurry home to watch it after school and it was on just as I walked in the door, so if I stopped to get a snack, I couldn't watch it and I was instead stuck with Bewitched. Bewitched was great and all, but Bewitched also aired on Saturdays, so it wasn't special, like Gidget.

How could I resist?

I'll just keep looking for that stupid battery.

What was a show that, as a kid, you'd get up early or race to finish your chores so you could watch it?

What was that one show a week that you claimed as "my show" and every so often, you actually got away with the old "dibs on the tv" bit?

In our house we could claim dibs on anything but if Dad wanted to watch something, he outranked us and our one TV went to him. 

Knight Rider, Hill Street Blues and Mash were higher on the food chain.

So was the Barbara Mandrell and her Sisters Show, The Dukes of Hazard and this bit of high culture.......

If I had to choose between a camera battery and Hee Haw, I'd have a new camera battery.

Hee Haw loses out to pretty much anything.

Nom

This year Matt and I had a very quiet Valentine's Day.

 It wasn't because we don't love each other to bits, but more because we were just tired. Last week was amazing, but we were pooped.

We're doing a make up for it this weekend.

In the meantime, I made this yummy cake for my Schmoopy.

It's a dark chocolate cake with a filling made from fresh strawberries with a fudge/strawberry glaze.

Good stuff.

I'm not posting a recipe because it was a cake from a box and I just threw the rest together from stuff I scrounged in the kitchen.

I sure do love my sweet husband. Six years ago he was my Valentine and I was so insecure about our future, but I loved him so very much.

 I still just adore the crap out of him.

I had 2 hours of dental work done this morning.

Thankfully, cake is easy to chew.

The Pictures

I waited to post these because I was going to boost them with photo editing, but eh.

When I got to about Nephi,UT I realized I had left the battery charger for my camera at home. I planned to pick up a new one.

When I got to about Baker, CA, I realized I should take it as a sign and I was free to enjoy Disneyland without lugging it around. My phone camera was nicer than my 'expensive' camera from 2 years ago, I was going to give myself the gift of using pictures to keep the memories, not potential heirlooms. 

Do I wish I had better pictures?

Yes. I wish I had at least one crisp and clear perfect picture of all of us together.

BUT- life is to be lived and sometimes, I think I tend to let the documenting get in the way of the experiencing and I have too many memories that were lived through a lens.

Instead my hands held those of giggling daughters and (too many) warm churros.

My eyes saw the faces of my teenagers as they lit up and their souls shrunk down to kid-sized as they raced to go meet Donald and Cinderella.

I love taking pictures, but I'm glad I forgot that battery, blurry red-eyed pictures and all.

Running on Empty

I've been running on empty for some time now.

I remember when I was younger and broker scrounging for gas money and just hoping I had enough to make it to where I needed to be. I remember feeling so stressed out as I drove, wondering if this was the intersection I was just going to hit Empty on and by the time I turned into a station, being so relieved I made it that I was just emotionally spent. Driving on fumes takes more out of you than just a chunk of change at the gas station. It's scary, it's hard and it's risky- every time.

And we've all been done it for whatever reasons.

I feel like that is how I've been living my life lately. Just trying to coast through to the next stop, wondering if THIS was the moment when I was just going to go kaput.

Every time I didn't, I was thankful, but a mess and feeling ragged.

So, we planned this big, giant vacation and I just clenched my jaw and pushed ahead. 

Go Go Go...don't stall out, Chris.

My body hurt, my emotions were fried, but by damn, I was going to make it to that next stop. I worried that my stress levels were going to be so high that I tainted the trip for everyone. I worried about so so many things. if you had poked me with a pin, I would have loudly popped.

And we made it there okay.

The kids were so well behaved, so excited. 

I walked through the gates of Disneyland and they started to play the old ragtime music and I suddenly felt so very happy. 

I felt amazing and wonderful and silly. What was I so stressed out about? Why have I been such an incredible grouch? Why was I taking EVERYTHING so seriously? 

I think I have been trying very hard to be the responsible adult I think I m supposed to be right now and it's just not me.  I am more 'yellow' than I have been acting and I've been an absolute shrew to some people, wearing my big girl pants like I think I should. 

Good heavens, I've been off track, just running on fumes and in this head space that was absolutely killing me.

Leave it to Walt Disney to get my head where it should be.

I needed that, way more than I realized.

Thank you, Life, for bringing the things I need- always. 

I'm sorry that I've been such a grouch and so negative. 

I was plum out of Pixie Dust.

I'd lost my much-ness.

I found it again last week and it fit like an old pair of mouse ears or whatever cheesy analogy one wishes to insert. 

Also, I have a really good life and an amazing husband.

 I'd follow him anywhere and I'm thankful for the life I am living with him. 

Be warned- the next post is going to be full of crappy vacation pictures and even lamer jokes.

Because I'm tired of living my life as though I were constantly running on empty.

Birthday Seventeen

Happy Birthday to Emma! 

Spoiled child opened gifts when she got home this evening and we'll go out to dinner this weekend.

She got some really fancy things like......

Socks. Woohoo. 

I didn't realize the cute 'text' wrapping paper I bought  had the "omg' on it until I brought the presents upstairs. 

Stupid paper, I'm all for saying bad words and all, but I don't like how that one has somehow slipped into so many products aimed at children. It's not a kid phrase, it shouldn't be a grown up phrase and it's all over every kid/teen magazine, website and products. 

Ergh.

Our kids would get grounded for saying it or texting it- it's not cool. 

So, I'm sorry it's in the pictures. 

The rest of the roll of paper is in the trash, but I was too lazy to re-wrap the gifts. 

Anyway....

She also got a cute stripey shirt, some soft curlers to give her Bella Swan-esque waves even though I think Bella Swan is ridiculous,  Angry Birds candy, new retro style headphones and this....

Yeah, it's a tablet. 

Nothing crazy fancy, but it will check email, facebook, edit pictures and enhance the whole Angry Birds experience. Emma is thrilled and shocked.

Sometimes we get it right. 

Happy Birthday, Red.

Cooking with Grey

Greyson is taking a required Home Economics course at school. 

He did NOT want to take it.

I worried that it would be one of those classes that we just struggled to see to the end. When Grey gets it into his head that something isn't going to work, that usually becomes reality. 

We encourage him to keep trying, though and sometimes we all get a nice surprise.

Home Ec has been one of those surprises, he really enjoys it. He's not about to start his own cooking show or anything, but he is learning to let go of some of his rigid need to follow every formula exactly and trust the process a little more because of the cooking class. 

One of his assignments was to find a recipe and cook something all on his own at home.

We decided that banana bread was a pretty good choice and I gave him the recipe and he made it, all by himself.

He had to wear gloves in order to touch the bananas that were 'disgusting' because they had to be thawed from the freezer. He had to make sure that the pinch of salt was measured just so in order to be what he felt the right amount was, but he did it. 

And it was great bread.

He put all the mushy weird things together an trusted that they would turn out right, and it worked.

I know it's not some deep,  mind boggling level of insight, but it made me think about what 'disgusting' things I've had to deal with and if maybe, instead of being so upset that they are so awful to me, that I can try and look at them as nothing more than ingredients. Ingredients in something that I trust will turn out awesome.