The Bourgeous Family Blog

Dinner Surprise

2012-01-26T19:50:00.000-08:00

My kids are generally not big helpers around the house. When I ask them to do something I usually get groans and sighs. Tonight I was in the middle of making spaghetti when Sierra asked if she could set the table. "Sure," I said, without even looking around. She asked me a few times what should go on the table and I told her the usual. "Plates, forks and water bottles." At one point I finally turned around and saw Sierra's table. It made me smile.

There were place mats, a full set of silverware and some fake flowers she grabbed from the bathroom. Reanne added a sign on the flowers that said thanks for coming, as well as fortunes for each of our plates. Spaghetti tasted a lot better than usual tonight.

Sunbeam

2012-01-06T15:15:00.000-08:00

It's official. All my children are out of nursery. Grant went in to the Sunbeam class last week. He wasn't excited about it, but he also did pretty well. (It helps that his teacher is his friend's mom.) It's not a huge milestone, but there are certain things that seem bigger to me. It was a huge deal when my first child went into Sunbeams. Now it seems a big deal that my last is going. There is even this tiny, minuscule part of my brain that says to me...perhaps he shouldn't be the last? That part of my brain is way too crazy for me to listen to though.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-01T19:58:00.000-08:00

This year for Christmas both boys were surprised with some wheels.

Both boys were pretty happy. (I think especially the older one.)

Madonna

2011-12-21T18:11:00.000-08:00

Tonight Sierra said to me, "I'm Madonna. Look into my eyes." When I did she told me I would turn into stone.

Words of Wisdom

2011-12-20T18:27:00.000-08:00

Sierra's teacher makes a book for the parents for a Christmas present every year. The book is called "Words of Wisdom," and is a book of idioms -with a little twist. Thought I would share life's lessons through the eyes of first graders.

A penny saved is... a doll.
You wear your heart...in your body.
You can lead a horse to water but...it will run away.
You scratch my back and... you scratch baby's back.
Can't see the forest...because there's a secret force field.
I can have my cake and...share it with my brother.
The squeaky wheel gets...squeakier.
A watched pot never...burns up food.
Better late than...to go to bed.
It's bark is worse than... a baby's scream.
Don't bite the hand that... is a person's hand.
Don't put all your eggs in... a fish bowl.
Beggars can't be...good.
You can't judge a book...cause it can't do anything.
As you make your bed so shall you...get dressed.
Up a creek without a...lake of water.
A rolling stone gathers...what I can't.
When the cat's away...they run.
A picture is worth... 25 cents.
Don't make a mountain out of...books.
The bigger they are...the smarter they get.
A stitch in time...is quick.
All that glitters...makes it sparkle.
A bird in the hand...said "cheep cheep." It meant hello hello.
Don't cry over...the couch. Please don't cry!
Out of the frying pan...came a talking waffle.

All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth

2011-12-15T19:34:00.000-08:00

Keeping Warm

2011-12-09T07:44:00.000-08:00

It has been cold in the mornings lately. The other day our elf Rintue, overheard the girls saying how their hands and ears were so cold they tingled while they waited for the bus. Rintue usually leaves pennies or little candies in their slippers when they are good, but the next morning they found hats and gloves on their slippers instead. They were pretty excited.

Stories

2011-11-29T19:44:00.000-08:00

Reanne and Sierra sat down and wrote some stories the other day. This is the story Reanne wrote.

The Three Little Lion Cubs and the Hyena

Once there were three little lion cubs. They lived in the woods. One night their mom left for food. Hyenas came so the first one went and built it's house out of brick so they circled the other two. So the second made it's house out of metal so they went to the last. Then she built her house out of gold.

Then the hyenas got hungry and lonely, so the three lions got in the third lion's home. "Here. You can take our old ones," they said. "We can all live together." "Thank you," said the hyenas, "but what about our food?" "Oh don't worry. We found wild, raw, dead lion cubs, but not us," said one lion. And the neighbors lived happily ever after.

While Reanne wrote her lion story, Sierra wrote this:

Two Unicorns Fall In Love

Once there were two unicorns. One day they knew they were falling in love. Then one unicorn saw a cat and started to chase it.

(We are all curious at our house to know what is going to happen next.)

Iowa

2011-11-22T18:21:00.000-08:00

We made a long trip out to see Jess's brother get married. Our 24 hour road trip was done in one stretch. (Actually it wouldn't have taken that long if we hadn't blown a tire.) Anyway, we got to his parents house in Iowa Friday night. We left Saturday early afternoon and traveled 3 1/2 hours to Chicago for the wedding and then came back that night. After Saturday we both swore we weren't getting back in the car until the end of our trip and we left to go home. But, the next day Jess showed me all his childhood memories around town.

Then, today we drove into Wisconsin to buy cheese. That sounds far doesn't it? It was a 20 minute drive and we got some wonderful freshly made cheese. Did you know they make chocolate cheese? We almost bought some but decided on the smokey cheddar instead...along with some fresh cheese sticks and some cheese curds. Fresh cheese sticks are the bomb. They aren't dry at all like the ones from Walmart.

We also passed by the coolest shrine ever in the city of Dickyville. It is called the Grotto and we just had to stop and take a few pictures.

The whole shrine is made up of small stones, geodes, shells, petrified wood, and glass from all over the world. It took some Catholic priest 5 years to build it. I thought it was incredibly gaudy but cool at the same time.

Sierra's 6th Birthday Party

2011-11-14T14:59:00.000-08:00

Sierra wanted to have a Princess Tea Party for her birthday party. She wanted to invite all the girls in her class, a few neighbors, and her cousins. I planned on 12 girls being there (including my girls.) I spent a lot of time preparing things that each girl would take home at the end of the party

So...to start out the party two of the girls came early. Not just a few minutes early, but 25 minutes early! And one of the girls was a sister, so not technically invited. Who does that? Another girl came and didn't realize it was a birthday party. I guess I didn't specifically say that it was a birthday party on the invitation so that was my fault. But wouldn't you bring one just in case it wasn't just a party just for the fun of it? Then another girl came with her sister. There were a lot of girls. It was really loud in my small house.

First the girls got their nails done and some makeup. While they were waiting their turn they played some princess games. Painting nails took longer than I thought so Jess had the girls tell princess stories until we finished. They were all fascinated with their made up stories. It was kind of cute. So the big game -the princess scavenger hunt- was next, but I had too many girls come (because of all the siblings who showed up.) I didn't have enough princess items anymore so I had to ask Reanne to be the princess who didn't get a tiara, a magic wand or a necklace. That didn't go over well.

For the rest of the party Reanne pretty much was in tears. I had to send her out of the house because it got so bad. She came back in time to see Sierra open her presents. With every present she cried harder. It was awful. Then Grant started crying. I was trying really hard to not cry myself.

By the time the party was over I had a huge headache and I was mad at most of my kids. I swear I am going to give up trying to do fun things for my kids. I am letting everyone know now that next year I am not holding any friend parties.

50's Day

2011-11-14T14:15:00.000-08:00

The kids just passed the 50th day of school. In Sierra's class they had a whole 50's day to celebrate. She got to dress up, they made root beer floats and all reading, writing and math activities were based around that decade. How fun is that?

Hike with Grandma

2011-11-02T07:44:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went on a walk with Grandma. It is a walk she takes every morning and she wanted us to see the leaves. We had actually attempted the walk previously but before we went up a paved road and only made it half way up. This time we drove to the top of the road and then my mom showed us the dirt path off to the side. It was gorgeous. The leaves were everywhere. The kids enjoyed it, all except for Reanne who ended up having the flu and we didn't know it. Sorry Reanne.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T13:51:00.000-07:00

Last year I found this dragon costume for Grant in an after Halloween sale. I thought it would be fun if the girls were princesses to match. This was a perfect idea for Sierra but Reanne took some convincing. She wanted to be a Power Ranger. I let her be a storm trooper last year and I really wanted her to be something girly. She finally consented to being the princess she thinks is a tomboy: Rapunzel. Sierra said she would be princess Tiana from The Princess and the Frog.

Here is Rapunzel (in a not so Rapunzel dress) but complete with frying pan and chameleon. Of course Reanne realized that the colors and pattern of her dress were wrong, but I'm just not that talented to make up a dress without a pattern.

Here is Sierra (in her not so Tiana costume.) She also realized the dress wasn't exact, but unlike Reanne, didn't complain about it too much. Reanne's costume was so hard to sew because the fabric was really thick. By the time I was done I bought all new material for Sierra's costume, not wanting to repeat the torture of the first costume. I didn't realize that her material would snag on my dry hands and fray by just looking at it. Oh well. I was still really happy with how they turned out in the end.

I actually caught a picture of Reanne twirling her dress -and liking it. I know there is girl in her deep inside. Sometimes I just have to force it out of her.

Halloween Dinner

2011-10-30T21:42:00.000-07:00

We shared our Halloween dinner this year with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Tracy and made it a combined effort. My kids really do love this tradition, so even though I threatened that this might be our last Halloween dinner, I'm already thinking about new things we could do for next year. Here was our extensive menu tonight: For an appetizer, pumpkin puke and decaying salad.

For our main course, goblin toes, mummies, spider eggs and roasted roaches.

For our drink, we had witches brew.

For desert, we had Frankenstein jello, and tombstone cupcakes.

And I have to say, the presentation was fabulous.

Pictures

2011-10-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

Walmart gave me a coupon for their photo studio so we went ahead and tried them out. I actually have a couple great photographers in the family, but this was convenient and pretty cheap. I really wasn't expecting much but ended up liking a couple of the photos they took. (The originals are a lot less fuzzy.)

This is my favorite. I have a big one on the wall and every time I pass it I smile.

Reanne's 3rd grade school picture

Sierra's 1st grade school picture.

There is something about seeing my children's cute smiles immortalized in a picture that brings me a little bit of happiness. In my house, there is so much drama and so many sad and angry faces shown throughout the day that mounting some smiles on the wall evens the score a little bit.

The Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

Our pumpkin patch has gotten cooler.We went to pick out some pumpkins, but we ended up staying and playing for about an hour and a half.

They added some animals for the kids to pet and feed. I can tell that they borrowed animals from the farm near our house because they had a kangaroo. How many people own a kangaroo?

One of my kid's favorite things they added to the patch was the corn box. It's like a sand box except for filled with corn kernels instead of sand. They must have played in that for a good 30 minutes!

And of course the hay mazes. It was short but sweet...perfect to walk through or climb on. All of this for the price of 3 pumpkins. Pretty good.

Walmart

2011-10-13T19:58:00.000-07:00

I have been working like mad on the girls' Halloween costumes for the last two weeks so they will be done by a Halloween party on Saturday. I have been pretty much ignoring everything else important that I usually do. Yesterday Grant told me, "Mom, we need food. You need to go to Walmart." You know it's bad when your 3 year old tells you to go grocery shopping!

Paper Dolls

2011-10-06T18:51:00.000-07:00

Every day Reanne has come home from school and quickly occupied herself in her room until we make her come out and do homework or come to dinner. Yesterday I asked her what she has been doing and she told me she was making paper dolls. When she showed them to me I was amazed a little stunned at not only how cute they were but how many she had made. Here are some of them.

Phineas and Ferb Dolls

Car (the movie) Dolls

Thomas the Train Dolls

Tangled Dolls

Backyardagan Dolls

Power Ranger Dolls (the people before and after they morph.)

Beverly Hills Chihuahua Dolls

Wild Kratts Dolls

Star Wars Dolls

Narnia Dolls

Nanny McPhee Dolls

The Wonder Pets Dolls

A little discovery

2011-10-03T21:04:00.000-07:00

The kids came in the house really excited the other day. They said they made a discovery. A praying mantis had spent some time on our porch railing. The kids said it crawled under our railing and started making something.

It was an egg sack. Have you ever seen the egg sack of a praying mantis? Now you have! I thought it was a cool discovery.

Award

2011-10-01T15:17:00.000-07:00

Sierra got her first school award on Friday. It was a citizenship award, something that Reanne has never received. It's amazing how different each kid is.

Sierra told me "I don't know why mom, but my eyes were all watery when the principal handed me my paper." She is definitely going to be my emotional child. She is such a sweetie.

Kids

2011-09-22T21:30:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else ever want to get in bed but find you have visitors?

Card Box

2011-09-07T15:55:00.000-07:00

My sister bought materials for everyone in my family to make a box to organize their cards. It was very thoughtful of her and a fun project for the rest of us. I love making cards but never had a place to put them until I gave them away. Thanks Tracy.

Curls

2011-09-04T16:06:00.000-07:00

I had to post these pictures of Sierra's hair. Her hair is so straight that I haven't had much success curling it. I have tried using a curling iron and I'll hair spray it to death with no luck. I bought sponge curlers and didn't get good results. At Swill days I saw these curlers called Blingin Beads Curlers and got this result. I didn't use gel, mousse, or hair spray people! They are fantastic. They are way easy to use too, way easier than sponge curlers. You can check out a demonstration on Utube for those moms who asked me about it.

First Day of School

2011-08-23T19:42:00.000-07:00

Don't they look happy? Sierra said the best thing about her first grade class is "everything." Reanne told me she was most excited about having a third grade web site she can do homework on. Grant has called Sierra three times on the play phone. He misses his sisters.

Updates

2011-08-18T21:03:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why I have had a hard time on the blog recently. But I need to list some of our recent Bourgeous events.

The first was that Jess took a final army, out of the country trip. He got to go to Italy for 9 days. I was pretty much jealous the whole 9 days he was gone. He brought me back some olive oil and a couple scarves, but I would much rather have been able to go. If I were to go back in time, I would have convinced Jess to let me join the military instead of him.

While he was gone I potty trained Grant. I never had a kid who wanted to do anything on a toilet...but when they get close to 3 I hit my diaper limit and they are forced to leave their diapers behind. It took about a week, which is about the same schedule as the girls. I don't know why I was so worried to potty train a boy. He did great.

The third big event was Grant's birthday. It really wasn't a big event. We had a little party with my dad who's birthday is a day after Grants. I didn't take any pictures of the night. I still can't believe that I totally failed in that category, but we had a couple presents and I attempted to make a cake with 7 minute frosting. It was the only thing my dad wanted for his birthday. He gave me an A for effort but I guess I didn't get it right. (If anyone has any tricks to share let me know.) I can't believe Grant is three already. With how excited I was that he is potty trained, I'm still kind of sad too. I officially have no more babies in the house.

The last big event is today. Jess and I celebrate 10 years of marriage. How did we celebrate? Going to Back to School night of course. :) Our kids are so excited to go back to school. And I am excited for them to go back to school. We are all so happy to be going back to school. What better way to celebrate an anniversary. (Don't worry. We are going out tomorrow.)

2011-08-03T22:05:00.000-07:00

We finally went on a family vacation after about 2 1/2 years. We wanted to visit Jess's mom in Pennsylvania before she moved. We didn't realize that would be 3 days after we left! We went sight seeing during the day and helped her with odds and ends at night. The kids also got to see cousins because grandma had them for the summer at her house. It was a fun but exhausting trip. Here are some of the highlights. We went to Baltimore to see the aquarium there. I have been to the Monterrey aquarium which is impressive so I wasn't expecting to be wowed...but I was. This is a really cool place.

Here are some of the girls at Hershey Pennsylvania. This was one of the places the kids liked the best. Who wouldn't when you are surrounded by chocolate.

Jess's mom watched the kids for us one day so we could go to DC. Can you believe neither of us had been before? Jess is standing in front of the Vietnam Memorial. He found his mom's cousin's name.

Grant posing with a civil war cannon at Gettysburg. They just built a new visitors center which has the most amazing painting of the war. It was painted in 1904ish and has recently been restored. It is like 4 stories high and as big as a football field. Of course after learning all about the battle you get to go to the actual sight. This was probably Jess and I's favorite place.

We went to a beautiful lake not to far from Jess's mom's house. It was very relaxing and it was really nice to go to a place that didn't take hours to get to by car.

Family Bowling

2011-07-09T15:30:00.001-07:00

Our Garden

2011-07-02T19:01:00.000-07:00

I really wanted to have a garden this year. I only could fit three tomato plants in my own backyard and a couple basil plants. When I asked my parents for some space in their yard I wasn't expecting this much space...but it's so great. We have a row of onions, a row of lettuce, a row of tomatoes, a row of peppers/ rhubarb, two rows of corn, and a row of carrots. We also have peas and beans ready to climb up the fence, pumpkins, cucumbers, squash and zucchini. I am really excited.

Why We Love Springville

2011-06-30T07:05:00.000-07:00

We have lived in Springville for 5 1/2 years. That is the longest that Jess and I have lived anywhere since we have been married. We moved here when Reanne was only 2 and Sierra was 3 weeks old. Grant of course, was born here.

I always said that I didn't ever want to raise a family in Utah. I know, I was one of those people. I had a lot of negative impressions on my mission. I also met a lot of Jacks while at BYU. Despite all of my previous thoughts, I look back over the last 5 years and realize that I am glad that my kids are being raised in Springville, UT. I love that this is a safe place. I know things can happen anywhere, but I don't worry as much about me or the kids here. I have also made a lot of great friends. There are definitely good people here and it has changed my previous impressions. I asked my kids what each of them liked about living here and they all had different answers.

Reanne said she loved living by all the farms and animals. That was one of the things that I loved about Springville when we first looked at buying a house here. It's the perfect meld of old and new. You get the feeling of living in the country, but you are only 10 minutes away from any kind of shopping that you need.

Sierra said she loved all the flowers. I know you can see flowers no matter where you live, but the flowers here are so pretty. In California, I never got to see any of the beautiful bulbs that grow here. I am so happy every spring when the daffodils and tulips pop up in my front yard.

Grant's is pretty excited to live around the train. To be honest, I have never lived in a place where I had to cross so many railroad tracks all the time. To get to my parents house just 4 1/2 miles away, you have to cross over 3 different sets of tracks! It's a tad annoying while your driving to have to stop for the train to pass, but Grant LOVES to see and hear the trains. A boy's dream come true.

And of course, all three kids love that this place is so close to them now. The best thing about living in Springville, is that Grandma and Grandpa's Mapleton house is so close.

Happy Father's Day...Late

2011-06-21T20:28:00.000-07:00

I bought Jess a tent for Father's day. I had it wrapped before we left for the Ragnar and just by looking at it he could tell what it was, even though I told him I would never buy him a tent. My other present to him was to let him "recover" after the race (and the next day) while I took care of the kids.

The kids always get off easy when it comes to presents. They made him little cards. They were also interviewed at church about their dad. This is what was in our ward bulletin on Sunday.

How tall is your father?
8 feet - Reanne

How much does your dad weigh?
Strong - Grant
6 pounds - Reanne

What does your dad like to eat?
Brownies - Sierra
Food - Grant
Salmon - Reanne

What does your dad always tell you?
To stop making scary things - Sierra

What does your dad do when you are at school?
Play on the computer - Reanne

What does your dad like to watch on TV?
The Dark Crystal - Sierra
Kai-lan - Grant
Phineas and Ferb - Reanne

Why did your dad marry your mom?
She was pretty and nice - Sierra

What is your dad's favorite movie?
Star Wars - Reanne

How old is your dad?
34 - Reanne

I found a poem that Reanne had written a while back that had been stuffed away in a drawer. It is titled "Dad."

Oh Dad I'm so glad to hav you thir for me!
I'll remynd you just in cace
How much I injoy your tender face!
I love having you around
And I hope that you hav found
Out that I love you!

The Ragnar

2011-06-19T21:44:00.001-07:00

I have to say that this was the craziest thing I have ever done. I have only been in one other race before. That race was a 5K and it was fun. I'm not going to say this race was not fun...just crazy.

Here are the stats:

Team- 12 people
Time- 35 hours 53 minutes
Miles in the race- 192
Miles I ran- 13
Miles Jess ran- 14

What I enjoyed about the race:

I had a lot of fun with the 6 people in our van. Well, the engaged couple (team spoon) were pretty quiet and were quite stuck to each other despite our incredible stink, but Kristin, Courtney and Jess were very fun.
After not running in a couple years, I had worked hard to run more than 2 miles in a row. I was really proud of myself that I could run 5 miles uphill without stopping to walk.
The places we ran were really beautiful. I loved seeing the hills of wildflowers, the pretty homes and the views from the mountains.
I was amazed at the people who came to run. Of course there were the fit amazing runners, but there were also people in their 70's, kids, pregnant women, and a blind woman.

What I didn't enjoy about the race:

Number 1 thing I didn't enjoy was the porta-potties. They were nasty, and there really wasn't a way to avoid them...unless you were Jess. Jess not only went in the fields, but he also demonstrated some incredible moves to remain from being seen.
Because we were sleeping 40 minutes away from the race and because we had to be at the race at 4:30 AM, we started the race with only 3 1/2 hours of sleep. That was a bit hard.
Our van didn't have to run in the middle of the night, thank goodness! But we did have to sleep outside in a field. I was tired enough to still fall asleep in the very cold air and on the hard ground, but only for a couple hours. Then we had to run again with 2 really bad nights of sleep. That was hard.
I had prepared to run my legs, which were a 5 mile, a 4 mile and another 4 mile (rounded). But I prepared with relatively flat terrain. If I had researched the race at all, I would have realized that all the legs require either running up a mountain or back down it. (One of my legs was almost flat.) That was hard.
There were way to many people there. They announced at the end of the race there were over 70,000 runners this year. That is great, until you need to drop off your next runner at the exchange and you can't get there because of the traffic. It was frustrating to have to wait for your next runner.

But - even though there were some hard things about the race, I'm glad I did it. I won't do it again, but I'm glad I did it.

A bit more girly

2011-06-03T07:05:00.000-07:00

Notice a little sparkle in Sierra's ear? She got her ears pierced yesterday and as you can tell is very happy about it. Sierra was very brave and didn't make a sound as they did it. Her lip quivered a little, but as soon as the lady told her she looked pretty she gave us a big smile that still hasn't left her face.

Hike up Maple Canyon

2011-06-01T19:08:00.001-07:00

Today it didn't rain! I never thought I would be excited about it not raining. I love the rain. But I just had to get out of the house today with the kids.

We went on a hike with friends up Maple Canyon. It is a perfect hike for kids because it is a paved road the whole way. (The pictures were taken a bit off the trail.) If you make it up to the top of the mountain it is a two mile hike up and then a two mile hike back down. We didn't get that far, but it was still fun.

A view into the future?

2011-05-12T09:51:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I gave blood. I thought it would be a good thing to do. I shouldn't have.

Yesterday I dropped off the two youngest at my neighbor's house and Reanne went to go play with a friend. She had strict instructions to tell the parents that I wouldn't be home so they would know. Yesterday I came home from giving blood and picked up Sierra and Grant and tried to pick up Reanne. She wasn't at the friend's house. She was at my house with the friend, her brother and two other kids from the neighborhood.

My house was covered with cut up, wet plastic bags. My floor was covered with water and bits of grated cheese. My laundry room was filled with soaking wet towels, sweaters, and whatever else Reanne found to wipe up some of the water. All the children were helping themselves to the food in my fridge and my house really smelled like wet cheese.

The one nice thing was that Reanne pretty much knew to be quiet and take what was coming. She was grounded from friends for a week and she didn't even say that I was being unfair. The whole time I couldn't help thinking, "Is this what it feels like when your teenager has a party at the house while your gone?" NOT looking forward to teenage life.

Easter

2011-04-25T11:56:00.000-07:00

We went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Easter. We had our Easter egg hunt in their yard since it is like 10 times as big as our own.

We thought Reanne would be the fastest...but Sierra was done way before anyone else. Don't let that sweet, little girl fool you. She's serious when it comes to competition.

On Spirits

2011-04-18T07:21:00.000-07:00

"Of course you can't see spirits mom! Do you think when a doctor looks down your throat he says, 'I see your spirit.'? No! He says, 'I see your tonsils!'"
- Reanne

New Toy

2011-04-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about Grandma and Grandpa being nearby is their backyard. There is lots of room for the kids to run around and play. This week my parents added a new toy to the backyard. We have all had a lot of fun on it already.

Making Cookies

2011-04-13T20:06:00.001-07:00

My kids enjoy making cookies even more than eating them sometimes.

Baby Bear

2011-04-07T16:02:00.001-07:00

Anyone who knows me knows that I was soooo nervous to have a boy. I'm sure God knew that when he blessed me with Grant. He is definitely 100% boy, but he is such a sweetheart.

Here he is with baby bear. Baby bear was a gift to Reanne when she was a baby. All the kids liked him, but Grant loves him. Baby bear is his bear now. He pretty much has to go everywhere with Grant. I'm scared to death that he will be lost one day and Grant will have lost his best friend.

Every night Grant makes sure that baby bear is tucked in bed with him. Sometimes we even hear him wake up in the night and start to cry. Is he crying for mom or dad? No. He wants to make sure baby bear is still with him. As soon as he finds him he goes right back to sleep. When Grant wakes up in the morning he grabs baby bear and bear licks him all over his face. It is so sweet to watch.

2nd Grade Talent Show

2011-04-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

Reanne performed a dance number with her class in the 2nd grade talent show this week. They danced to Hawaii 5-O. It was totally awesome! :) Other highlights of the 2 1/2 hour performance included soccer, hula hooping, jump rope and balloon bouncing. I could have totally been in this talent show.

Riverdance

2011-04-03T19:11:00.000-07:00

Last night I took the rare opportunity to go out with my mom, sister and aunt to Riverdance, playing at the University of Utah theater. It was pretty fun. I had actually bought the CD in college because I had performed a waltz routine to one of the songs so I knew most of the music. I can't find the CD now of course. The dancing was great and I was pleasantly surprised when they introduced other tapping dancers besides just the Irish ones. They had a flamenco dancer and some American tap dancers who also performed.

I wasn't supposed to take any pictures during the show, but my sister convinced me to. It didn't really matter. As you can tell, I don't know my camera well enough to get a good one anyway in the dark without a flash.Here are the lovely ladies that came with me. Thanks for the wonderful evening!

Reanne's trout

2011-04-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

It seems like my kids obsess about things. If you know my kids at all you will know what they are obsessing over because they never stop talking about whatever it is. First, it was Star Wars (introduced to them through Jess of course.) That obsession lasted quite a while. Next, it was the cartoon Rugrats. It wasn't really a cartoon I watched a ton, but I saw it on Netflix and remembered it and thought my kids would like watching it. Bad mistake.

Here is a picture of a trout that Reanne made in art class. It represents Reanne and Sierra's latest obsession. Can you guess what it is?

Some pictures

2011-03-31T21:52:00.000-07:00

I got a new camera yesterday. It's been long overdue. My other one was dropped one to many times and was being held together with duck tape. It also didn't have rechargeable batteries which I now realize cost me quite a bit of money! I got a Nikon Coolpix, and it is purple...so hopefully Jess won't steal it too often. I'm not a great photographer, but I do need to take more pics of the kids, so I am excited to get to know the camera better.

Here are some pictures I took today.

This one makes me want to kiss those big ol' cheeks.

Here is Sierra...always posing.And Reanne...eagerly finishing up a book (that she hates to read.)

Like Stars on Earth

2011-03-23T07:46:00.000-07:00

I just watched this movie last night. I'd have to say it was one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. It is about a boy who isn't doing well in school and gets sent to a boarding school to try to fix him. It was done so well. A couple warnings though. It is three hours and it will probably make you cry, (hopefully not as much as it made me cry.) Also, don't be surprised when the actors burst into song. It is a Bollywood film after all.

Allergies

2011-03-22T12:57:00.001-07:00

Sierra told me today that she had named one of our fishes Allergy.
"Why is his name Allergy Sierra?" I asked.
She replied, "Because he is an allergy eater."

I'm venting

2011-03-17T15:24:00.000-07:00

I really do love being a mother, but no one ever told me that the way people view your children could impact you so much. I had parent teacher conferences today. I dread them. Every time I have to face one of Reanne's teachers I know exactly what they are going to say to me. She is doing really well academically...but her behavior is horrible. And then they go on to tell me exactly why they don't appreciate my daughter in their class.

Today I finally said to her teacher, "I do work on behavior all the time at home. I just happen to have a daughter that is very verbal." She then told me, "It's OK to be verbal. She just needs to know what is appropriate." Thank you Mrs. Nelson. I had no idea. I've only had to deal with her temper tantrums and sassy mouth for 6 1/2 years now. But I appreciate your advise.

So after every conference I go home feeling like I am an inexperienced, failing mother. I hate it. If only she had children of her own...perhaps she would be a little more understanding. But lets face it, even if she had children and they acted perfectly in public places, she still wouldn't understand. And I would have been the exact same way if I didn't have a little spirit assigned to me that happened to be a spitfire of a personality. So, if anyone else out there wonders why she acts the way she does - we're working on it!

Disney On Ice

2011-03-15T09:36:00.000-07:00

I took Reanne and Sierra on a mom-daughter date last Friday to see Disney on ice. We went with my good friend Jessi and her kids. I had never seen anything on ice, let alone a Disney production and I thought it was so fun. Here were some of the characters we saw.

I'm glad they included the villains too. My favorite part, although I didn't get a good picture, is when Mickey made all his brooms come to life while he was the sorcerer's apprentice. They turned out all the lights and the brooms all glowed in the dark. It was pretty sweet.
Here are the girls rocking out during the performance. I'm glad they had as much fun as I did.

Weird

2011-03-09T13:19:00.000-08:00

So as most of you know, time is something that is pretty limited in the Bourgeous house right now. Out of necessity, I have had to cut a few things out of my life. One thing is running in the mornings. I have mixed feelings about that one. I really hate to run even though it's good for me. Another thing I have cut is a trip to the grocery store. I have decided to go to the store every other week instead of every week, going back once for only bread and milk. I was a little worried about how it would work and was especially worried about how much I would be forking out during a grocery trip. Amazingly enough I have so far spent less on my two week trips than I did before when I went every week. The last two times I have gone grocery shopping I have spent about 65.oo....for 2 weeks! Weird but great. I wonder why that is?

Sierra quote

2011-03-08T08:39:00.001-08:00

I love to hear how kids think.
On Sunday Sierra came to tell me that Grant had pooped. I asked her how long Grant had had his poop. She replied, "For as long as you haven't changed it Mom."

Reanne's baptism

2011-03-07T13:35:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that my oldest is now official. It was quite a day. A tiny stressful for all involved, but very wonderful. Reanne sang the song, "When I am Baptized" with her two friends who also got baptized that day. They all did a wonderful job. Reanne is a bit terrified to put her head under the water so it took a lot of coaxing to get her in the water. Jess and I were pretty much praying the whole time that Reanne would actually go through with what she was excited to do. And she did. Thank goodness! Here they are....Reanne doesn't look nervous here. You would never know it took 5 minutes of pep talk in the font.
And here she is after everything was over. She is so beautiful. So I wanted to make the dress she got confirmed in. I used a pattern I had, thinking it would be pretty simple. Well, it wasn't too hard to make but I didn't realize how much fabric the pattern took. Poor Reanne is wearing about 7 yards of fabric. The brocade on the bottom is beautiful but so heavy. Notice how Reanne is standing so tall? You might think it is because she feels so good now that she is baptized and confirmed, but it is probably because she is trying to hold up her dress.
I wanted to say thanks to everyone who came to support Reanne on her special day. We are very blessed to have such great friends and family.

Second Grade Program

2011-02-25T11:42:00.000-08:00

Last night Reanne performed in her second grade patriotic program. I was so impressed with her and all the other second graders. I thought it was inspiring...for several reasons. First, I thought it wonderful that the school thought it worthwhile to instill some patriotism in these little souls. They sang probably a dozen songs, only half of which I knew. Second, I was amazed with how much these 8 year old kids memorized! They gave us long quotes from the founding fathers, the recited the Preamble to the Constitution, let alone ALL the verses to our patriotic songs. I loved how happy all the kids were to perform. I wish I was still like that. And I love that proud feeling of watching your child when you know they have worked so hard and are excited to show you what they can do.

Seth's getting married!

2011-02-23T14:48:00.000-08:00

Jess's youngest brother is getting married. I thought that this was the most awesome wedding invitation ever.Congratulations Seth and Samantha!

Reanne's birthday part 2

2011-02-19T15:26:00.000-08:00

Reanne had her friend party today. For some reason everyone kept asking her what the theme was going to be. Is that something you have to do, or is it because of the size of her Star Wars party last year? It was pretty chill. We did some crafts, had lunch and then opened presents and had cake. So much less stress then last year. Kids just love friend parties. I had to take some pictures of the girls that came over. They were so adorable.
Allie and Sierra (a shared friend)

Reanne and Nevaeh

Reanne and Sharie

Reanne with Karissa and Kaitlin
Aren't they all so cute!

Birthday cake

2011-02-12T13:05:00.001-08:00

I found this recipe for maple cake and cream cheese frosting in the newspaper and decided it was going to be the cake for Reanne's family party last night. It looked so good in the picture. I figured it would take me about an hour to make it. I love homemade cakes. I've made them before and they are always more tasty. Well, everything was going well until I took the cake out of the pans. It crumbled everywhere and I could barely keep the whole cake from disintegrating as I transferred it to a platter. I put on the frosting to try to keep it together but it didn't help.
Isn't this the most pathetic cake you've ever seen? I don't know what happened, but I was pretty stubborn about it. I didn't want to waste it and I had already invested a bit of time on it and I didn't want my family to eat a cake from a box. So instead of starting over with an 88 cent mix I already had I decided to look up a fondant recipe to cover it with. The first recipe didn't work. The second called for two ingredients I was out of. Luckily my neighbor came to my rescue so I didn't have to make a Walmart run in the middle of my kitchen mess, and luckily the second recipe worked.
Here is the cake failure saved by about 5000 calories of fondant. The cake was saved but my day was not. The one hour cake had turned into a four hour cake and a pretty messy kitchen.
But Reanne is worth it. I'm glad she got a pretty and tasty, although crumbly cake. For her friend party next week however, she is definitely getting a cake from a box.

Hats

2011-02-07T13:43:00.001-08:00

My sister made a hat some time ago out of an old t-shirt. She left the pattern at my house. I loved the idea of it and knew I wanted to try them out.

The first one I wanted to do was for Reanne's patriotic program coming up. She needed a hat to throw during the program so I thought it would be fun to do a patriotic one.
Well, it was so easy I couldn't help but use up all my t-shirts that I was going to throw away.

The second is a green one that Sierra has already claimed. It has an iron on butterfly on it. I really liked how that one turned out.

The third was made out of a blue t-shirt from Jess. I'm glad he let me use it. No guy should ever be wearing that color of blue. I actually made a small hat for Grant out of a manly green color but realized that these hats are not for boys. He looked silly in it. Oh well.

Busy!

2011-01-31T07:36:00.001-08:00

I have realized this month that the number of posts I blog per month directly correlates with how busy I have been. This month was pretty bad. My goal is to be less busy in February so hopefully I will get on here more.

Family Reunion

2011-01-03T18:21:00.001-08:00

Most of my family got together for the Christmas vacation. It was fun to see and be with sisters and their spouses. It was especially fun to see how big my niece and nephews are getting and to see their little personalities emerging. Here is a picture of all the grand kids thus far on my side. I think they are all so cute.

Our Snowgirl

2010-12-30T19:24:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad I have a sister who loves to take pictures. I never bring my camera with me but I can always count on a few shots being taken of my kids. Here we are making a snowman-which turned into a ballerina snow girl with a chef's hat.

Gingerbread house

2010-12-20T15:30:00.000-08:00

We bought a kit at Walmart. It is just so much easier...although Jess and the kids wanted to make a haunted gingerbread house out of grahm crackers. Oh well. You do what you can do.

They all tried very hard to make those big candies stick before they fell off again. Grant didn't even eat any of the candies. I was so proud. :)

The house lasted about one hour before it was taken apart and eaten. I was surprised -it was actually pretty good gingerbread.

Loving the Snow

2010-12-16T16:25:00.000-08:00

Jamamas

2010-12-14T22:02:00.000-08:00

Tonight Grant was standing up in the bathtub ready to get in when he saw himself peeing in the water. Jess, wanting to get the chore over with, tried to tell him he could still take a bath, but Grant would not have it. He struggled and screamed until Jess gave up. He told Jess to get him out and demanded his diaper be put on him. Then he wanted his jamamas on right away. It's so tough to be two.

November Tradition

2010-11-24T21:50:00.000-08:00

This is the third year that we put up a blessing tree for the kids to fill during the month of November. This year we also added a service tree. We thought it would be good for us all to practice giving more as well as being grateful. We each picked a main service to give and then tried to be as service minded as possible for the rest of the month. I think we still need some work though. :) Our service tree is kind of bare.

Falling

2010-11-21T19:20:00.000-08:00

No nap days are pretty rough....

Happy Birthday Sierra

2010-11-19T18:54:00.000-08:00

Today we celebrated Sierra's birthday. We had a nice, quiet family party. (I love the non-stressful birthdays.) Sierra was so wonderful today. Even though her unthoughtful mother took her to the doctor to get her kindergarten shots in the morning and then spent a good part of day of the bleaching every nook and cranny of the house, Sierra was just so happy to have it be her special day. I found her in the bathroom once spraying and brushing her hair. She told me she had to get ready for her party later. And doesn't she look cute?

She got Polly Pockets from Reanne and Grant and a princess barbie doll from mom and dad. She was so happy.

We made Sierra a chocolate cake with fudge and carmel, with a cool whip topping. I thought it sounded good. Sierra said she didn't really like it. Bummer. But she liked blowing out the candles on it.

Happy birthday Sierra. I can't believe you're five! We are so lucky to have you as a daughter. You are wonderful.

Still sick

2010-11-18T20:14:00.000-08:00

Reanne missed school last Thursday, Friday and Monday, so on Tuesday I sent Reanne to school again. I felt a little bad because she was coughing up her lungs all morning, but I thought she could handle it. At 1:00 that day the office called me to come pick her up. She coughed so hard that she threw up. I'm a bad mom, I know. We bought a humidifier which we turn on every night in the girl's room. Grant gets it if he needs it. But even with our new device, Reanne woke up the other night with more problems. She was screaming and when I went in to see what was wrong she had blood coming out of her nose and mouth. It was quite a shock at first until I realized that she was sucking down a bloody nose and trying to spit it out again. Gross. This happened again last night as well. Poor Sierra is now having nightmares that Reanne is going to throw up or get blood all over her during the night on her trundle bed. Switching her head to the opposite side of Reanne's helped a little.

Tonight we are prepared. Reanne is drugged with cough medicine. We put the humidifier on full blast, closed the heat vent, put Vaseline in Reanne's nose and I think I might wear earplugs.

Sick

2010-11-10T11:59:00.001-08:00

I haven't updated for a while. This is because one or more or all of us have been sick for the past month straight. We have had colds, the stomach flu, the regular flu, strep throat, and an ear infection. You gotta love this time of year.

Even though we have been sick I did manage to get away for a night of fun. I went to a card swap night that one of my friends, Amy, puts on often. I love it. It is so fun I think.

This is the card that I made for the night. You can't tell from the picture but it has lots of glitter and bling.

And this is my favorite card that we made. It has glitter on the stockings and wings. It also has this fuzzy smock on the hat and trim of the dress. I think it is adorable.

Halloween Dinner

2010-10-30T20:14:00.001-07:00

On Friday we held our second annual Halloween dinner. This year we invited some neighbors over to share in the fun. To change things up a bit this year, we added the tablecloth and the hanging spiders.

The menu this year was finger food (literally in the case of the finger pretzel.) We had monster sandwiches,

Frankenstein eggs,

swamp juice and chips.

For desert we had pumpkin, bat, and ghost cookies,

and spiderweb cupcakes (made by my neighbor. Aren't they cute?)

I think everyone had a fun time. We love Halloween.

Belated Birthday

2010-10-25T20:53:00.000-07:00

I have to spotlight some of my wonderful and talented friends. Today I came home and my dear friend Olia had left some flowers on my door. I hope it wasn't because of my last post...no matter the reason, I really appreciated them. They totally made my day. Thanks so much Olia. You are one of the sweetest people I know. I totally miss seeing you in the ward!

That amazing cake was made for me by my neighbor, boss and friend Kristin. She is pretty much the best baker I have ever met and her cupcakes are the bomb. This cake looks like it should be for a wedding, but it was just for my birthday. It was a pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting. She even put this amazing, white chocolate, funky layer around the outside. Thanks for the cake Kristin. You are the best. Oh, she also made one of the cute flower headbands. When did she have time to do that?

The other headband was made by my new visiting teacher Rebecca. I don't know her well yet, but I can tell that she is one talented lady. I love the headband she made. (It's the one with 3 flowers on it.) I have been secretly coveting her headbands that she makes and wears for months. Thanks for making me one Rebecca. I am so excited that you're my new VT.

I just have to say, I have a lot of talented, amazing friends.

Happy Birthday!

2010-10-24T13:10:00.000-07:00

Jess and I share a birthday today. It is one of those things that I like and dislike at the same time. I like the fact that we were born the same day, same year, almost the same hour until the day that we celebrate. Then I have to share my special day and because it's both our special days, somehow neither one of us makes a big effort for the other and it becomes not that special anymore. Today was especially bad. I am home with a daughter who threw up literally a minute before we were going to leave for church. I have had every kid sick this week and I also got to become friends with my toilet last night. Not a great birthday. We aren't even going to have a cake since it would probably make half the family puke again anyway.

I was pondering all this as I was doing a massive cleaning and thinking about how this was Jess's fault for feeding Sierra a hamburger when she had been sick all week. I thought about how I didn't have flowers on the table or any cards. Then I thought about how he didn't either. So I am dedicating this post to Jess as a birthday card from me.

Yep, this is how I feel about him sometimes -but just sometimes. Really, he's a pretty good guy. Would I have married anyone who wasn't? He's really kind to everyone, has a great sense of humor, is compassionate, and does a great job juggling all of his responsibilities. He doesn't let his stress show like I do (which is a really good thing for our family), and he always takes time to talk to me.
He is a great dad. The kids really adore Jess. It's so great he is 6'4'' and can handle the kids pounding on him because that job is definitely his. I think he even secretly likes it. Even though he hates chores like changing diapers and bathing the kids, he still does it anyway. I really appreciate that.
Jess is a really good sport. He pretty much goes along with all the crazy ideas that the women of the house have. He's been dressed up multiple times (and I always seem catch a picture of it.) He also is very willing to go along with some of my crazy ideas too (remodeling the kitchen, seeing plays, and other things I know he does not care about.) I really appreciate that too.
He's pretty cute too. When I stop to think about it, I know I lucked out in the husband department. (Even if he feeds my sick child a hamburger.) I love you Jess.

Tagged

2010-10-22T10:38:00.001-07:00

I got tagged. I kind of like these things, so thanks Lisa. Here were my questions.

1. What is one of the top things on my bucket list of things I do before I die?
I don't know if this is on the top of my list...but I've always wanted to go on a hot air balloon
ride. I also want to some day go on a cruise.

2. When was the last time I laughed so hard I almost cried?
It was at a Young Women/Young Men activity a few months back. We were having a
smoothie making competition where the kids were in teams and had to come up with 5
different smoothie combinations. There was about 30 different ingredients they could pick
from at the table and it was really funny to hear the kids as they put these disgusting
smoothies together. "This one will be peanut butter with a hint of mint....oh darn...that was
too much mint." I couldn't stop laughing however as we tried these smoothies at the judging
table. They were absolutely foul.

3.What was your favorite family vacation as a child?
I would say Disneyland, but it was never a true family vacation since my mom always took
the kids while my dad was at work. (We lived about 15 minutes away from Disneyland when I
was little.) So I will say out family trip to Hawaii. It wasn't until I was almost married, but it
was really awesome.

4. What is the best and most memorable meal I have ever had?
This one is a hard one for me. I don't think in terms of food usually (unlike my husband.) I
would have to say that it would have to be one of the meals Jess and I had while we were in
Europe. Amazing atmosphere, amazing food, and just the two of us. Lovely.

5. If I could visit anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
Courtney got me so excited about Italy that I would still love to visit there. But I would
actually also love to go to Alaska as well. I would love to see a place that is still so untouched.

6. What am I a little scared to do, but secretly would still like to try sometime?
Nothing. There is nothing that I am scared to do that I want to do.

7. What is my all time favorite movie and why?
Pride and Prejudice -the 6 hour BBC version.

8. What do I like to do for fun and relaxation?
Veg in front of the TV, create something, or watch a great movie.

The Red Barn

2010-10-19T19:51:00.001-07:00

A couple days ago, the kids and I met up with some friends at the Red Barn. We had never been there before. We went on a tractor pulled hay ride through the apple and peach orchards and ended up at a pumpkin patch. When we got to the pumpkin patch, the kids picked out pumpkins, went through a maze made of crates, and posed for me in those silly cardboard cut outs. I brought my camera along with me but not my card....so these were taken on my phone. You can tell. They aren't that great.

All this would still not quite be worth the drive to Santaquin in my opinion. However, they sell the most delicious apple and pumpkin donuts at the Red Barn which we all tried. They were definitely worth the drive. Yum! Perhaps we'll come back next year.

Technology

2010-10-15T21:31:00.000-07:00

I can't remember records, but I can remember tape cassettes. I remember when Cd's came out thinking, nothing can top this. They will never come out with a technology that will beat Cd's. Of course new technology came, but I was still kind of stuck on Cd's.

Last week we got a new DVD player for an early birthday present for ourselves. (Jess and I always do a combined gift for our combined birthday.) Anyway, this nifty machine has the Internet built in it making Netflix a lot more fun. When Jess was going through the menu with me there was also a button for Pandora, something I had never heard of. After Jess explained what it was I tried it and have fallen in love with music all over again. You set up a free account on line and put in some of your music preferences. Pandora then builds a personalized radio station for you with all your favorite songs. It's so cool. For all you guys who already knew about Pandora...excuse this post. I'm always a little behind the times. But I have to admit- it's way better than Cd's.

The Raspberry Patch

2010-10-14T13:30:00.000-07:00

I was told about a raspberry field that you could pick your own raspberries. I thought it would be fun for the kids and with harvest time here in full swing I have been wanting to pick something. Here Sierra is trying to figure out which way she should go. It was pretty massive.

The girls had so much fun picking, although Sierra's kind of all turned to mush at the end.

Grant is showing me his favorite thing to pick: rocks. He didn't touch a berry the whole time we were there.

At the end the kids got bored and played on the playground at the farmer's house. Very nice of them to include that feature don't you think. We stayed for 1 1/2 hours (which flew by). It was hard for me to stop picking. You just keep finding more and more good, yummy berries. In the end we weighed in at almost 10 pounds! I guess we'll be having lots of raspberry dishes in the next year.

The Kitchen Redo

2010-10-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

Isn't this kitchen picture lovely? I saw a picture of a similar kitchen in a Home and Garden's magazine and thought it looked like mine. OK...not like mine, but I thought of my kitchen's potential.

Here is my kitchen. It's OK for a kitchen. The pluses were that there was lots of counter space and a great pantry. Everything was functional. There were a few minuses. The sink was small and it was hard to fit much in it. The counter tops were kind of nasty (especially if you looked underneath them.) Overall there wasn't too much to complain about. But you know what happens when you see somethings potential. You have to act!

Here is the first step of my makeover. It was the hard part. Painting the cabinets took a lot longer than I thought. I took a few brakes, some because we couldn't untighten some of the stubborn screws for a while. But it took me about a month to complete.

After the hard part came the fun part. We got a sweet deal on counter tops at Home Depot. I picked a quarts rather than granite. It is harder and so it doesn't chip. (I can attest to this because I accidentally dropped a hammer on the first day.) It also doesn't need any maintenance-so no resealing! It's great for kids too since it has anti-bacterial stuff already in the counter top. And it's so smooth and wonderful....

As an afterthought I had my friend Ariel back splash the wall. It's not grouted yet. I am so glad that I decided to do that because the sink's faucet can make some serious splashing. Also, no more wiping spaghetti drips and canning splatters of of paint. Yea!

My favorite part of the remodel? The sink! No more crud around the faucet plate. No more stacked up dishes because they don't fit in the sink. Seriously people, it is so great. The price of the plumber to rearrange our pipes under the sink...not so great. But did I mention that the sink was free with our Home Depot deal? So no worries.

OK. If you didn't get a good picture of how deep the sink is. Here is another that has my huge caner pot in it. Just fabulous. Can you tell that I'm excited? I love my kitchen.

Headband

2010-10-10T08:07:00.000-07:00

My neighbor bought a flower clip for her daughter made out of a zipper. It was so cute so I asked to borrow it to figure out how to make it myself. It didn't seem to hard so I bought a couple zippers at Walmart and went for it.
Mine turned out a lot smaller because I got zippers that were a shorter length. I didn't want to make them into clips so I decided on gluing them on to a headband. I liked it a lot in the end.

Spoons

2010-10-07T20:53:00.000-07:00

For many weeks I have noticed that we have been missing spoons. I have lots of the big size, but my kids have a hard time fitting their mouths around those. I only have 3 little spoons left out of...a lot. It's these little mysteries that keep my brain pondering. Well, the mystery was solved last night when Jess and I pulled out our dishwasher. Someone (and I'm not going to say who) found a little hole in between the cabinet wall and the dishwasher and quietly disposed of most of my spoons.

Old

2010-10-05T07:25:00.000-07:00

I told Jess last night that I was old. At the end of every day I feel like I have just finished a 10 mile hike up a mountain. Jess said it was just our time of life. If we had had 3 young kids when we were 20 we would have felt the same way. So do you think that when my kids are older and not so demanding that I will feel young again?

I have to record some of Grant before I forget it. He is so cute with how he says the girls names. He calls Reanne "Hareanne" and Sierra "Hasin". He never calls an animal by it's name but by the sound it makes, unless he knows a pet that has been named. Our neighbor has a cat named Armani and so all cats are now called Armani. He also has a favorite silky blanket which his Aunt Lori gave him when he was a baby. He calls it his "hmm hmm". He is so sweet....but at the same time so frustrating. He has definitely entered the twos and has become very independent. He won't do anything I say and will tell me no EVERY time I tell him to do something. As with everything in life, the good and the bad always come together.

2010-10-02T21:23:00.001-07:00

Some days I just dread being with Reanne. She can be a real pill. Other days however she can be unbelievably sweet. Yesterday she told me about grandparents day at school. I guess she was adopted by her friends grandparents for the hour since hers are both living far away. She was asked by the grandpa why she was so cute. She replied that she got all her cuteness from her mom. Comments like that make up for our bad days.

Yummy

2010-09-26T07:46:00.000-07:00

My kids were wanting to eat with chopsticks for some reason. We made this and really liked it. The egg rolls are better I think than the ones you get at restaurants and the kids really liked the fried rice.

Lumpia - Filipino Egg rolls

1 Tb vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup minced carrots
1/2 cup cabbage, sliced thin
1 lb ground pork
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
30 egg roll wrappers
oil for frying

Cook pork. Remove and set aside. Drain grease, leaving a thin coating. Cook garlic and onion in pan for 2 minutes. Stir in pork, carrots, green onions, cabbage and seasonings. Remove from heat and let cool enough to handle.
Place 3 Tablespoons of filling diagonally near one corner of each wrapper, leaving a 1 1/2 inch space at both ends. Fold the side along the length of the filling over the filling, tuck in both ends and roll neatly. Keep the roll tight as you assemble. Moisten the other side of the wrapper with water and seal the edge.
Put those you don't want to eat now in a freezer bag and stick in the freezer. (I usually double the recipe so I will have half for later.) Cook the rest in oil for 1-2 minutes a side until all the sides are brown. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately. You can also cook them in the oven if you prefer at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Fried Rice

1-2 green onions, chopped
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
4 tablespoons oil for stir-frying, or as needed
4 cups cold cooked rice
1 - 2 tablespoons light soy sauce or oyster sauce, as desired

Wash and finely chop the green onion. Lightly beat the eggs with the salt and pepper.

Heat a wok or frying pan and add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil is hot, add the eggs. Cook, stirring, until they are lightly scrambled but not too dry. Remove the eggs and clean out the pan.

Add 2 tablespoons oil. Add the rice. Stir-fry for a few minutes, using chopsticks or a wooden spoon to break it apart. Stir in the soy sauce or oyster sauce as desired.

When the rice is heated through, add the scrambled egg back into the pan. Mix thoroughly. Stir in the green onion. Serve hot.

Family Night

2010-09-20T19:51:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday Reanne announced that she was going to give our family night lesson. In fact she was so excited about it that she couldn't wait until Monday night and we did it Sunday instead. In true Reanne style she did everything herself -minus the treats. I was actually really impressed when it was finished. Her lesson was about sin. When you sin she said, it is like getting stuck in a spider's web. You can't get out until you repent. Then for an activity we all sat in a circle and took turns tossing a spool of thread to each other. At the end we had built a spider web. It was short, but everyone had a fun time and the kids were so curious about what Reanne was doing that they all payed close attention. The best part was, that I didn't have to prepare it!

This got me thinking. Why not let her do this more often? We decided each person (minus Grant) would all take a turn doing family night every month. I was so excited about this. Even Jess gets to take a turn. :)

Tonight was Sierra's night. She wanted to do a lesson on animals so we got out our Noah's Arc lesson that has visuals. We practiced the story so that she could teach it to everyone. Her favorite part was being the only one able to touch the Noah, arc and the animals as she told the story. Then we played animal charades. Grant even played but got to excited and started hitting everyone. At the end we had pig cupcakes which Sierra helped me earlier. Sierra felt very grown up at the end.

I decided that it is a lot more fun for everyone...even me when the kids get involved with projects. I really hope we can keep this one up.

Jumping Jacks

2010-08-25T10:35:00.000-07:00

Before school started I wanted the kids to have some last summer fun memories. I felt like I had a hard time this summer juggling my calling with my personal and family time. Anyway, I took the kids out for the last few days of summer and this is one of the places we visited.

Sierra was more brave than last year and slid down the big slide all by herself. She didn't have anyone to hang out with since Reanne had brought a friend but she had fun anyway running around by herself. She is just sweet like that.

Grant was still a bit unsure of himself. He did climb up one of the slides with Reanne but was not quite sure how he felt when he reached the top. I just think he is so cute. I give him another few months before he is loving this place.

Is Bigger Really Better?

2010-08-21T19:23:00.000-07:00

Most people know that we had a 35 gallon fish tank in our living room. Well, while I was at girl's camp Jess found a 60 gallon tank on KSL for a super great price and decided that he would go for it. We sold the old one on KSL (love that place) and for just 20 dollars difference we upgraded. We found some rocks outside, and got some more plants (some are bulbs that haven't sprouted yet) and here it is. Is it better? I think so, and I'm sure the fish think so too.

Some family pictures

2010-08-15T19:16:00.000-07:00

My sister Tracy took us to the old Provo train station for a photo shoot. She is pretty talented don't you think? I thought the pictures turned out so cute.

Happy Birthday Grant

2010-08-12T15:20:00.001-07:00

Today is Grant's birthday. I can't believe that he is already two! We celebrated a couple days ago so Grandma, Aunt Lori and cousins William and Zach would be there.

It didn't take Grant long to understand what he was supposed to do with the presents. He was ripping paper like a pro. All the presents revolved around cars since Grant is pretty obsessed with them right now. His favorites however were the car trailer and the bus.

Here's the cake. It was me trying to be creative. I'm a lot better when I copy other people's creativity. I figured it didn't matter too much with my two year old.

Grant even blew out his candles.

I love you cutie! I'm so glad you joined our little family.

Cecret Lake

2010-08-11T06:40:00.001-07:00

While my family was in town we decided to hike to Cecret Lake up in Little Cottonwood Canyon. It was a bit cold when we got there but it was really pretty.

Here we are starting our adventure. Jess was great to stay with Grant who was always a little behind.

Isn't this picture great! They are all happy and having a great time.

Then it started to rain....and then it started to hail. No one was happy anymore. Everyone else started running down the mountain. But since we didn't have coats or even closed-toed shoes, we ran for cover in the trees.

Here we are trying to stay dry.

After the rain stopped, most of us ended up making it up to the lake. Although I was kind of hoping for something bigger and grander to make up for the bad weather, it was still a pretty little spot. My advise to you however, is to go on this hike when it is very warm and to wear shoes and not flip flops.

Still their favorite thing...

2010-08-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

Pozole

2010-07-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

I just finished my last lesson on Mexican cooking and I have to say that it was my favorite recipe. We made Pozole and it was soooo good.

Here is what you need-

2 lb of pork roast, cut in to pieces
2 lb of pork ribs (best to buy at a Mexican store but I got at Walmart)
1 bag of large red chilies, deseeded
1 garlic head
2 onions
1 6 lb can of hominy
1 chicken and 2 beef bouillon cubes
1 ice burg lettuce
6-7 radishes
limes
bag of tostadas

Here is what you do-

In the biggest pot you have put your cut meat (including bone), 1 onion cut into chunks, 6 garlic cloves peeled and cut into chunks, 2 beef bouillon cubes and fill 3/4 of the pot with water. Bring to boiling and let sit.
In another pot, put chili pods, 1 chicken bouillon cube, 1/2 onion, and 2 garlic cloves with 1/2 pot of water and let boil. Boil for 30 minutes and then blend in blender. Add 1/2 tsp of salt to blended mixture.
Open can of hominy and rinse it in a colander. Add corn to the soup. As the soup cooks, skim the top as needed. Pour 2 hand fulls of salt in the pot.
Strain the chili sauce into the soup. The soup should be really dark red after you are done. Let boil for at least 3 hours.
Dice 1/2 onion, cut radishes and lettuce and limes. Top the soup with the radishes, onion, and lettuce. Squeeze the lime over and enjoy!

There is also this really spicy sauce that we made that you can spoon inside the soup as well....but it was REALLY hot. If anyone wants the sauce let me know.

The Zoo

2010-07-05T14:16:00.001-07:00

For the 4th of July (actually the third this year) we went to the zoo. I know it's not a typical activity for the 4th...but Jess HATES parades and would not budge on this one. The weather turned out great and although it was a bit crowded, we got in free with Jess's military ID. So all in all it was a good choice. The kids all had fun.

It was Grant's first time at the zoo so I was curious to what he would find interesting. He liked the animals ok...but he mostly just liked having a lot of room to run around. He also took every opportunity to find rocks and trash to throw at whoever was walking by.

Grant did not like the carousel so this is the only picture we got of him on it. He ended up getting off before it started.

Here Sierra is looking at her 10th set of monkeys. As you can see she is not that interested in them anymore. Both girls said they were "monkeyed out" by the end.

The girls really liked the playground. I always wonder why they put playgrounds in zoos and why kids like to play on them more than watching the animals.

Finished

2010-07-02T20:35:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I finally got my carpet. Thanks Tricia! So I brought everything up, put down the carpet, and brought everything back down.

Now I have a place to store my food and water....

a place to store my stuff.....

and a place to store my kids.

So far they love it and play down there every day.

The Narrows

2010-06-28T06:34:00.000-07:00

This last weekend I went to youth conference to St. George with 5 of our youth. It was a great trip! One of the things we did was go to Zions National Park and hike the Narrows. I didn't actually get any pictures there so these are downloaded from the Internet...but these pictures are what I remember seeing and pretty much what it looked like.

I didn't know what to expect on the hike except that I knew I would be hiking through some water.

The first mile of the hike was a dirt trail and it went really fast. After we got to the river it was pretty slow because you pretty much stayed in it the whole time. You can't really tell from these pictures, but the current was really strong. In some parts you could barely keep upright while crossing. I actually fell 5 or 6 times.

As you can see from this picture there are parts of the river that are really high. At one point coming back we floated through a part that you couldn't touch at all.

It was a pretty advanced hike I thought. It was hard to keep your footing since you couldn't see the rocks you were stepping on. They were all different sizes and kind of slippery. The current also made it hard because there was so much resistance. By the end of the 4 1/2 hours of hiking my legs were burning. :) It was really beautiful though and surprisingly cool. Though it was 103 degrees that day, we were in very cool water and the rocks shaded us for a lot of the hike.

I think if I ever did this hike again, the next time I would even start earlier in the day to hike more of it. It isn't one to bring small kids on however. At first I thought how much fun Reanne might have on the hike, but after a while I knew it would be way too hard for her. If you like hiking, I would suggest this one. It was really fun.

Just a few pictures

2010-06-27T21:50:00.000-07:00

We were outside today for a bit while Jess barbecued us some dinner. I thought I would post some pictures of these cuties.

Flan Cake

2010-06-23T18:26:00.000-07:00

Here was our father's day cake. It is a flan cake (still part of my training). I really liked it. Much better than just plain flan I think.

Recipe

1 chocolate box cake mix

4 eggs

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 can evaporated milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

chocolate sprinkles

Carmel ice cream topping

In a large bunt pan that has been sprayed with oil, pour some Carmel in the bottom until it covers.
Follow cake directions on box and set aside.
Put both cans of milk in blender, with 4 eggs and vanilla. Blend and set aside.
Put cake batter on top of Carmel and then slowly pour blender mix on top of cake batter. Don't use all of it or the cake will overflow. Leave about 8 oz and save for something else.
Cook at 350 degrees for about 1 hour until toothpick comes out clean.
Cool on counter for at least 20 minutes until all the way cool.
Carefully flip upside down and add sprinkles.

Recipes

2010-06-23T17:48:00.000-07:00

Here are the recipes for the last post. Warning: you use a lot of oil.

Beans

Soak 1 lb pinto beans overnight.
Drain beans and fill with water again so it covers the beans. Add 1 onion (sliced), 3 garlic cloves (chopped) and 1 1/2 tsp salt to the water.
Cook beans until they start falling apart.
Blend the beans in a blender.
Put back in pot with 1/4 cup of oil and cook until blended.

Rice

Boil 2 whole tomatoes, 1 onion cut in chunks, and 2 whole cloves of garlic for about 15 minutes. Blend in blender.
Cook 1 cup oil with 2 cups dry rice until the rice turns yellow. (This took about 30 minutes I think.)
Add to the rice the blended mixture and 1 can of tomato sauce and cook until thick. When thick, add 2 cut carrots, 1 chicken bouillon cube (mashed) and 5 cups water. Cook until rice is done and the liquid is cooked off.

Red Enchiladas

1 bag of dried large red chili pods
2 onions
1 clove garlic
1 can Nestle Media Crema (Table cream)
Queso Fresca cheese
1 lb Mozzarella cheese
2 tomatoes
salt and pepper
1 bag corn tortillas (Guerrero is best)

Open and take out the seeds of the peppers. Rinse the peppers in cold water and drain. Put the peppers in hot water and add 2 whole cloves of garlic. Soak for about 20 minutes. Blend mixture in blender.
Cover bottom of a pan with oil. Strain the chili with a strainer to get out the chunks of skin. Put the strained part in the pan with oil. (The other part you can throw away or use for whatever you want. Socoro actually puts it on eggs for breakfast.) Add handful of salt and cook for 1 hour.
Warm up the tortillas in a pan and wrap in foil until you need them. Warm up just what you want to use and save the rest. After the tortillas are warmed, cook the tortillas in oil 1-2 seconds a side. After the oil, dip the tortillas in the chili sauce and set aside.
Take the chili tortillas and fill them with grated mozzarella cheese (and chopped onion if you want). Wrap the tortillas around the cheese. Drizzle with the table cream and crumble the queso fresca on top.
Microwave the enchiladas for 20-40 seconds and serve.

Enchilada Dinner

2010-06-16T21:08:00.000-07:00

Today I had the amazing experience of learning to make enchiladas...authentic ones. We started the process at around 10:00 in the morning and didn't finish until 1:00 in the afternoon. My lovely neighbors and their wonderful mother came and started a tornado in my kitchen. They were working so quickly that I could barely keep up while writing down everything I saw them do. I had no idea how many steps were needed or how many dishes we would need to use to complete this dish...but it was worth it. It was so delicious. It kind of reminded me of making Thanksgiving dinner and the clean up really reminded me of Thanksgiving dinner. It took like 3 hours! I can't imagine cooking like this every day, but I'm glad I can now make it again sometime.

Egg looking desert

2010-06-15T13:56:00.001-07:00

I am working on personal progress with my beehive neighbors. They come over nearly every day. For their project on individual worth they are going to be teaching me to cook authentic Mexican dishes. Exciting for me!

This was our first little recipe. It was something their mom grew up eating for desert in Mexico because it was inexpensive. It looks like an egg but the white is just sweetened condensed milk mixed with sour cream. (You use a can of milk with 8 oz of sour cream.) The yolk is actually a canned peach although they usually use canned apricots. I thought it was pretty clever and something I could use on April Fool's Day sometime for my kids.

Our family hike

2010-05-29T20:18:00.000-07:00

The girls have been begging to hike the Y for about 1 1/2 years now. We had perfect weather for it today so we decided to go for it. We brought along our neighbor Janessa too.

Here we are on our way up the mountain. Everyone is full of energy and excited to see the "Y".

We stopped a lot of times for Sierra and Grant. Sierra, because she just isn't an athlete and Grant, because he had to throw all the rocks he saw along the trail. Grant and Sierra both had to be carried up at times so Jess and I got a super work out.

Here we are, finally at the top. Everyone is happy except Reanne who wanted to walk down the Y. Jess told her she had to scoot on her bum because he was nervous she would fall. She did not appreciate that.

By the time we had our juice boxes and walked back down the mountain, everyone was pretty tired. Jess had to carry Grant all the way down because he fell asleep. Don't worry, they all perked up again when they got their slurpees on the way home.

Last Day - Barcelona

2010-05-25T04:36:00.001-07:00

Since we were leaving out of the Barcelona airport, we drove down the day before to see the city. It was definitely the biggest place we visited and we were a bit overwhelmed with how much there was to see. We were also pretty tired and a tiny toured out so I don't think we got the full experience here. If we ever take a cruise on the Med. we will have to try to see some more of this huge place.

We did take a sky tram up this hill to the old fort of the city. The views were incredible and you could see everything. The picture of the city (above) was from the tram but you could also see the harbor and the Mediterranean. The fort was free which is probably why we went there. I don't know if we were running low on funds or just tired of giving people our money, but it sure was nice to walk in somewhere and not have to give them your arm and leg to see the place.
Although it was enormous, Barcelona was still beautiful. I loved seeing the different styles of architecture and they had more monuments in the city than Lisbon (which had monuments on pretty much every corner). We took a bus tour of the city when we realized there was no way to walk from place to place like we had previously done in the other cities. The bus tour took about 2 hours. Not because it went that many places, but because we were in rush hour traffic pretty much all day. Warning: Don't ever try to drive around in this place if you visit. It's totally worth it to take the bus.

I had no idea of how artsy Barcelona is. It was home to many famous architects and artists. We had been to one art museum on our trip and probably every cathedral we came across. So instead of seeing Gaudi's temple (which I kind of wanted to see anyway because it is so different) we saw the Picasso museum. I have to admit, it was pretty cool to see even if I don't prefer his style. This is a picture of us and Jess's mom, who joined us a week into the trip, outside the museum.

At the end of the trip we were all exhausted and ready to come home. I REALLY missed the kids. Now that I am home again I can't get enough of them and I am a lot more patient with them again. Hopefully the feeling will last a while. :) Traveling is wonderful. I hope that we can do it again one day.

Day trip to France

2010-05-19T23:52:00.001-07:00

Jess and I had to go into France just to say we did. It was a long car ride to the places we went to, but it was well worth it. First we stopped in Niaux to see the caves that have the Paleolithic cave art, the ones you see in history books. It was really cool.

Of course you couldn't take pictures inside and I don't know if I would have been able to anyway it was so dark. We each had a big flashlight and it was still was so dark that you couldn't see things too clearly. The guide had a mega light that he would shine on things when he wanted to tell us about them, which was all in French so I didn't understand a thing. I bought a book afterwards so I could get the information from the tour. I guess they have no way to prove they are actually cave drawings but they were recorded by people in the 1700's. There were signitures all over the place of people who had explored the caves, some from the 1600's. It definitely made the Timp caves seem tiny. These caves were massive.

Coming down the French side of the mountain we actually saw some wildlife. We saw a herd of mountain goats and some kind of deer.

Next we drove to Carcassone. It was a beautiful drive off the mountain. This was another tourist city we found out, but we drove through a ton of small French country villages which if we had time I would have loved to stop at. Carcassone was another city with tons of history, a French castle and tons of little shops. It was fun to walk around and look at everything. We tried some French cookies (they love shortbread here) and their hard crust sandwiches. That is one thing I am excited to return to in the states....soft bread. The hard stuff tears up my mouth.

Some pictures from our drive. Jess was worn out from driving a stick shift up and down a mountain but I couldn't get enough of the sights. So pretty.

Andorra

2010-05-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

Sunday we left Spain and drove into Andorra, a tiny country in between Spain and France. The drive was beautiful. Since we have been here we have just taken it easy and relaxed. We haven't set the alarm once and we went to the grocery store so we could cook in our apartment. We went on a few nature walks which is where the picture below was taken. The mountains are draining everywhere from the winter snow and the run off comes out of the funniest places sometimes. I guess it killed this tree from running right under it's roots.

When you drive up and down the main road you see all these wonderful tiny cities nestled in the mountain. It was pretty cold the first couple days we were here since we are so far up in altitude but it warmed up yesterday. So since it warmed up we had to go shopping! :) When do I get to go shopping without kids? It was great.
I loved all the wild flowers up here. I haven't seen a lot of wild life, but the wild flowers are so pretty. They even have this wild kind of daffodil that grows in the fields that only gets about an inch off the ground. You can't tell it's a daffodil until you get really close.

I think we found out the secret to get internet now, so I hopefully can post more regularly.

Day 6 - Zaragoza

2010-05-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

This is our last city in Spain before we drive on to Andora. Jess messed up on our reservation at the hostel here and so we had to book at a place that had room for us. It happened to be a five star hotel. It was 50 euros more but it sure beats having to share a bathroom with 15 other people. Actually, we have only had one other hostel that had shared bathrooms so it has been not bad at all, but I am really loving this hotel.

Both Jess and I both felt our brains go a little numb today with everything we have taken in in the last week. We walked around not sure what to see that would make this place stand out to us. We ended up seeing a basilica (which I guess is more important than a cathedral?) where we couldn't take pictures on the inside. It was still a working church. It was kind of nice to see people in there praying instead of taking pictures, even if they were praying to St. John and Mary.

We also saw a palace which was very cool. This was a palace for the Moors at first and then taken over in the 1400's. This seems to be the pattern in Spain. It then was built to look like a fortress another hundred years later by a king who was having troubles with his people. It was beautifully restored inside but I can't post pictures of everything.

This wasn't open when we went by, but I had to get a picture of it. Who can come to Spain and not get a picture of a bullfighting ring? The only thing we didn't get to see which I wish we could have was some flamanco dancing. Oh well, another trip....someday.

Well, I hope I have internet at our place in Andora. I have to write this all down before it leaves my mind or gets jumbled even more than it is.