Big Breakfasts

Whenever we ask little Trenton what he wants to be when he grows up he replies, "A firefighter."  Which in and of itself is a noble profession, but the first time he said that I was slightly surprised and asked why.  He got a big grin on his face and said, "because they make big breakfasts!"  He has a video about firefighters and it shows how they cook for each other at the firehouse.  One meal they show is a breakfast of eggs, hashbrowns, sausage and toast.  For two years now this has been his aspiration - to be a firefighter so he can get a big breakfast.  This little boy LOVES a good breakfast and a couple things he's said to me this week have cracked me up.

This past summer we stayed at the La Quinta during a wedding where they do have exceptionally good, hot breakfasts. He thinks it is absolute heaven, because I let the little guy go to town when we're there - anything he wants: sausage, eggs, waffles, muffins, juice, sugar cereal, fruit, you name it, he eats it.  I think he dreams about it, and whenever we pass a hotel he shouts out, "Look a hotel!  Can we stay, Mom?  Please?" Today he opened a Christmas card with $5 from Choo-choo Grandma and ran it up to his piggy bank.  I asked what he was saving it for and he replied, "To stay in a hotel...so I can have their big breakfast!" 

When we flew home from Seattle yesterday (more to come on that trip), the pilot let him sit in the cockpit, push buttons and make an announcement to the plane.  He came back to our seat just glowing and I asked him if he wanted to fly planes when he grew up.  He pursed his lips together and slowly said, "Well, I bet they have big breakfasts at the airport before they fly, so yes...I could do that when I grow up."

Little Piece of Heaven

Have you ever had an unexpected piece of heaven - you plan something and have no idea how wonderful it could turn out. We did that the other night by planning an FHE with some of our dear friends. We had a delicious chili dinner, made gingerbread 'graham cracker houses,' and had a little musical Christmas presentation/sing-a-long. And for some reason during a busy holiday season, everything slowed down for a night, the stars aligned and it was heaven. Maybe it was using the 'other' side of our brain, the creative, musical side and giving the planning-stressing-cleaning-coordinating side a rest. Maybe it was the surprising delight & peace present with ten children and parents building gingerbread houses. Or the beauty of watching our little one's musical talents develop and unfold. Or perhaps simply being with friends who are more like family, who have been at the major & minor crossroads of life, walking side-by-side through the hills and valleys with each other and making it possible to not only survive, but thrive during this adventure we call life. We bring different talents and skills to the table make a complete circle of care, concern, and friendship. And that night it was complete. Perfect. A little piece of heaven.

6:57 a.m.

Every. Single. Morning.

This is when Blake, my alarm clock, goes off each morning. Without fail. No weekend sleep-ins, no pressing snooze. It does not matter if the child goes to bed at 7:30 or 10:00 - the consequence is not a different wake-up time simply a different level of grumpiness for him throughout the day. The consequence of "snooze" (letting Trenton get him out of the crib and putting a pillow over my ears while he yells "ma-mee, ma-mee, ma-mee,") is often a messy diaper and a diaper rash to battle for the next 3 days. It does not matter how dark the room is, how warmly he is clothed, what he has eaten the night before or whose house we are in, and he is certainly no respecter of vacations.

Now I realize you early morning seminary parents think I have nothing to complain about, but your 5:30-5:45 wake up time is not 365 days of the year. You have fall break, spring break, summers off, 3 day weekends, every weekend for that matter and winter vacation - things to look forward to.

I also realize it could be worse. It could be 5:57. That would be bad. And I am also fully aware this season of my life is better than seeing that clock at 1:45 and 5:00 facing a hungry baby. So I'm not necessarily complaining, just stating the fact that during this season of my life I have a relentless, unforgiving alarm clock. And sometimes I wish that once, just once I could look at the clock and it would say 7:45 or 8:30 or 9:15 or something delightful like that.

Trenton's First Fast

Kind of.

This morning as I was getting breakfast ready for the kids I mentioned it was fast Sunday (we don't eat 2 meals, fast with a purpose in mind and donate the money from the meals to those is need. It brings me such inspiration and I truly miss it when I'm pregnant. Like I miss everything else, but that's another blog). Trenton piped up - "Oh, I need to not eat 2 meals, huh, Mom?" I explained he was welcome to fast if he'd like, but I thought we could start when he was 8 years old. He ate every bite of breakfast and we headed to church.

I picked him up from his class and his teacher handed me a tangerine.

Teacher: "Trenton was fasting."
Me: "Excuse me?"
T: "He said he couldn't eat this because he was fasting. I felt bad he didn't get the treat, so I wanted to send it with you for...when his fast is over, I guess."

Later in the car I asked for some clarification.

Me:"So, Trenton. Did you decide to fast today?"
Trenton: (munching on a bag of M&M's shared by Kali from her Christmas Advent Candy calendar made in Primary. Shared 8 days too early before I could stop her) "Yup, I did."
Me: "But you're eating now."
Trenton: "Yea, I fasted during ALL of church, Mom. It was my first fast."

I smiled all the way home.

A Little Bit of Heaven

Does it get any better than this?! Heaven, I say.

All of my wonderful family at our house for Thanksgiving Weekend

Catching the big Turkey moment

Oh, yum

Long lost sisters, reunited :)

Putting a face to Grandpa's very own legend of Yata-he and Running Bear

Cousins. Buddies.

A little uncle tutoring in DDR
A manicure filled with love, if not perfection

Who needs to pay for a light show, when you have Parker's very own?

Carrying on the legacy - like father, like son. Thank goodness.

A Tim-Tam slam tribute. The siblings - just not complete without ya, bro.

Can't we just keep you all?

Adam & Eve

We had just finished dinner at our good friends house and were sitting around the table chatting.  Enter a giggling Trenton and Kali...

K: (whispering) do it, do it.

T: (proceeds to turn around and stick out his little bum)  (they run out of the room together)

Me: Excuse me?  Both of you right here right now.  What was that?

K: (quickly with an accusing point in Trenton's direction) Trenton stuck out his bum at you. (Trenton's jaw drops)

Me: Trenton?

T: (looking shocked and betrayed at Kali)  What?  Kali told me to do it!

Me: Kali?

K: Sorry.

I don't know what to do with that girl - a preview of what's to come.

Counting my Blessings

I have just been thinking about some of the many things that have brought a smile to my face over the last couple of weeks.  I wanted to make mention of them - some blessings are smaller than others, but all have made me pause and given my heart a little lift!

The primary program - Our ward had all the children dress in white - all 180 children.   It was a beautiful, eternal scene.  Kali is the very youngest Sunbeam in the entire primary (as her birthday is on New Year's Eve), but she sang like a champ on the front row.  She swayed her little head back and forth to the songs and was very intent on following the music leader; even to the point of directing and cutting off the kids and singing/mouthing the words in an exaggerated manner.  Oh I wish I'd had a camera to catch her sweet little shining face.

Wicked - My dear friend gave me tickets to Wicked for my birthday in July.  We went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory beforehand - what a delightful night!  And an incredible musical - the music, the acting, the message was AWESOME!  I'm so blessed to have such good friends.

Sprouts - OK, the sales at this store are amazing.  And the latest - avocados were 4 for $1.  I just got happy looking at my 8 avocados for $2.  Then even happier eating the sprout/tomato/avocado/turkey sandwiches!

The delay start on our oven - I just figured this out today.  It made me very happy.  I put a frozen casserole in the oven before church, set the delay start and it was ready to eat when we walked in the door.  It's the little things.

My children's prayers - Trenton's prayer last night "...and please bless that I will play basketball as good as my Dad someday.  And that Kali will stop rubbing her feet on the dresser so I can finish my prayer."  Kali's morning prayer she says by herself that I overheard: "And please bless that Uncle John can come back down to earth.  Please bless we can see him again, because I miss him."

Halloween Report

Our Fall/Halloween celebration started with a trip to our first pumpkin patch. Well, in a way. Steve has wanted to go to a pumpkin patch every year since we got married, but somehow I always talk him out of it. It's pricey, quite a bit of a drive, would the kids remember anyway? Well this year I thought it was was time to make it happen. When I told the kids we were going on a long drive to a pumpkin patch, Trenton said, "What?! Why aren't we going out favorite Wal-Mart pumpkin patch? Their pumpkins are great!" To which I looked at Steve, shrugged my shoulders and mouthed a "Sorry." Yes, for years we drive to Wal-Mart and I say: "Here's the pumpkin patch guys, pick one out." Economical, yes. Memory making, maybe not quite so much.

We had an absolutely delightful time and I think the kids ages were perfect. We went to Berry Patch Farms - they had animals, baby chicks, silhouette drawings, crafts, hay rides etc. I just loved being away from all things man-made and out in nature. It made me wish my kids could have more time on a farm. There's just something about it.Without question Kali's favorite part of the day was the baby chicks.

Blake guarded this pumpkin with his life - I think he took this poor little girl down.

Trenton looked so hard for the perfect pumpkin.


The week of Halloween turned out quite differently than I expected it to due to the blizzard, but I think I liked it better. The week started with Trunk-or-Treat - this is typically the most popular night at church in which the fire safety limit is broken when every church member and many neighbors fill the church in costumes, chow down a yummy chili dinner (chili dog this year) while trying to keep your kids contained & calm in the gym, squeeze through the hoards of people in the hall to play games put on by the youth, then trick or treat out of car trunks in the parking lot. That last part includes dishing out candy as fast as humanly possible from your trunk in the freezing cold while keeping an eye out for double dippers. Do I love Trunk-or-Treat? Obviously not, but the kids ADORE it! It's better than Halloween night itself. And I will say this year was exceptionally organized with excellent crowd control. I did it as a single mommy (Steve was picking up a Craigslist mattress for our upcoming guests) and a youth leader. The kids were patiently assisting with the 'cookie' walk until they realized there were many other games to be had. Let's get going, Mom! So we went between the cookie walk, the games in the hall and trunk-or-treating- the kids were in heaven. It was the very best night of all for them.

Turns out it was a good thing we went to Trunk-or-Treat, because that was the only Halloween activity for the week thanks to the blizzard. Trenton & Kali's school parties were canceled as school was canceled :(. Trenton was most certainly too sick to care, and the snow playing was a fair trade for Kali. I was just grateful to be home for the remainder of the week. The day the blizzard started I was at work. The hospital alternated between lock down and letting us go home multiple times. If there is a risk that the staff for the next day won't be able to get in the hospital will lock down and essential medical staff are required to stay in hotel rooms close to the hospital or sleeping areas in the hospital. I wanted to be home so badly as I knew the blizzard would get worse and who knows how long I'd be stuck away from the fam. I almost skipped out to the car with glee that I was going home to my babies.So on Halloween night we carved pumpkins, made soup and went Trick-or-Treating. These are Daddy's awesome creations - Trenton requested the bat & Kali settled for the ghost after I refused to let her carve a skull. Really, honey a skull? No way. Trenton's fever broke that afternoon, so we put hand-sanitizer on him and he made it to 5 houses. Slowly. I was so glad he could at least get dressed up and get to some houses. He had been so excited for this night. Grandma Allen sent a Halloween package with the reflectors, among many other treats, they were very excited to wear (in the picture below). She asked Trenton if he was excited for Halloween, he said weakly while laying on the couch, "Grandma I am going to be sick with the flu for 6 days and will not be able to go Trick-or-Treating." It was so sad. Even as I write this 10 days later, his eyes are still a bit sunken and he doesn't quite have his old energy back. It was a bad one.

The weather warmed up nicely for Halloween night. This neighborhood has so many trick-or-treaters. It was a blast to chat with all the neighbors and see the great costumes. A group of moms just sat out on camping chairs around a heater chatting away until almost midnight. I joined them for a bit and enjoyed getting to know them.Trenton has wanted to be a magician since he laid eyes on the costume at Costco in, oh when do they start promoting Halloween, June, maybe? Steve wasn't real thrilled - I think he wanted something more manly, but this little guy wouldn't budge. I was set we were not going to buy new costumes, but he wanted it so bad I told him he had to use some of his birthday money to help pay for it, which he gladly did. Little sweety. Kali wanted to be a ballerina until one of her friends said she was going to be Tinkerbell. Once again, not too excited about paying full price for a costume so I convinced her she really did want to be a ballerina wearing our hand-me-down outfits. Until the (brilliant) used costume sale at Trenton's school & voila! There was Tinkerbell with all the accessories for $5. Nice. They also had this little bumblebee costume that Blake was so darn cute in. He also LOVES wearing hats and is certainly my busy bee, so I thought it was perfect. We taught him "What does a bumble bee say" His reply: "Beeeeeeez."

Happy Halloween! Let the holiday fun begin!

Snow Days

Let it snow!  Holy October Blizzard.  Parker got a good two feet of snow last week before Halloween. School was canceled for 3 days.  I have to admit I was as excited as the kids to not have to get ready for and carpool to school.  Jammies, hot cocoa, snow angels, beautiful snow...I love it all.  Little Trenton came down with something fierce during those snow days.  Temp of 104, body aches, sore throat, vomiting, diahrrea, headache - I have never seen one of my children that sick.  H1N1?  We'll never know.  He's been vaccinated against A & B so it very well may have been H1N1 - but what are you going to do?  Take it one hour at a time.  And really wish you would have stocked up on Tylenol suppositories before 1 am when your husband had to drive to three stores in the middle of a raging blizzard becasue your son couldn't keep anything down and was moaning in pain. 

He said to me at one point, "Mom it is wild inside of me." 

"What do you mean wild?" 

"It feels like a cheetah is running wild insde of my chest."

I laid my hand on his chest, and his heart was pounding so hard & fast I could see my hand going up and down.  His heart was pounding 150 times a minute.  That was scary.  I kept reading we could and should manage flu symptoms at home and kept thinking my RN badge should save us money at some point.  If I were at work, I'd call the doctor, start IV fluids, give him some oxygen and give him pain meds IV & that darn suppos.  I had access to none of that!  That's why moms are the SMARTEST.  They have to figure this out without all the fancy stuff.  We got through it with gatorade, blessings and a very brave sick boy.  OK and one cheater phone call to our ER Peadiatric doctor while I was at work Friday night - just for reassurance.  In a way it made the snow days easier because the poor little guy just wanted to be held and carried from place to place.  He was my little hot pack.  Luckily it hasn't spread to anyone yet. I'm not holding my breath though.  It may.

These are pics of our healthy ones enjoying the snow.  The drifts were taller than Kali.

And this next one is a pic of daddy not so much enjoying the shoveling.  And Kali enjoying hitting Daddy with a snowball.

Summer Synopsis

I was looking back at our summer pictures and realized there were many great things we did this summer I didn't get a chance to write about with the move and such. Since I do this mainly for our family journal/family history, I want to forewarn you this may be boring, but I want to catch up on some of the highlights.

We were blessed to be able to go to two weddings this summer - they were both wonderful! My cousin Courtney got married in Casper, WY. They had planned an outdoor wedding; actually dreamt of it their whole lives, but at the last minute the storms rolled in and we did the wedding inside. They both handled the disappointing change so well and plan on eventually renewing their vows on the mountain.

Anna and I were bridesmaids and little Kali was the flower girl. Oh, was she in heaven! And she did a great job - darling as ever. I can't remember when so many people had SO much fun at a wedding. The DJ was fabulous - he said he'd done it for 11 years and he was 16. He helped his dad for years and it showed. He let Trenton sit with him all night and help him put on an incredible party. What a BLAST! It was so fun to be with Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents - truly a family reunion for us.





We also were blessed to be able to travel up to Seattle for Steve's cousion/sister Jenna's wedding to Wes. It was such a treat to be with the McDonalds and witness their love, organization and teamwork. We learn so much from them each time we're there. This first picture is Wes leading us in a Thriller rendition. It was sweet. The chocolate fountain tradition instead of a wedding cake is definately one I'll push my kids to embrace :). And I LOVED that Jenna wore her mother's BEAUTIFUL wedding dress. Isn't she stunning?!



I managed to squeeze in training for the Parker Ward Triathlon this summer. I am completely addicted by the way. I think I went into it thinking, yup I can do this, I did it once and survived. I might not have trained quite enough; I tell you I was so glad to see that toilet paper finish line! I left out the pictures of me doing the backstroke, catching my breath :).


We started a summer tradition this year we will definately keep up. I took the kids out to UT for 2 weeks by myself. We missed Steve horribly, but were able to spend such great time with family and friends. I think next year Steve might come out for a few days then fly back before us. 2 weeks is too long!

We went to the single least expensive carnival I have been to in my life for Pioneer Day in Bountiful. What a family friendly place. I love it. We met up with Steve's sister Tina & her kiddos and Emily and Johnny.

Grandpa cleared every evening the second week to spend time with us. THANK YOU! One night he met the kids to take them on a train ride, then suprised them by taking them to Chuck E Cheese. They still talk about this special night with Grandpa.

Every day is a heaven day at Aunt Tina & Uncle John's house. Here are all the cousins plus some neighborhood kids getting ready to swim in the lukewarm hot tub. They loved it!

Grandpa & his Boys

Grandma & her Girls

For FHE we drove up to Snowbasin (where my dad teaches skiing) and went on a hike - a short hike with Anna's broken ankle :( and three little ones. It was absolutely stunning. Next year Dad and I decided we are going to the top!

Back to the favorite house of Aunt Tina & Uncle John's. They have worked their way to being practically self-sustaining with the addition of 10 chickens and their magnificent garden. Tina helped the kids hold chickens and I just drooled in awe of the garden.

We had a blast practicing our painting skills at JeVonne & Paul's house. Luke, Mary, Mom and Emily even pitched in to help get rennovations done before their little baby girl arrived in August. What a project they undertook - wow. My favorite line was walking into the backyard to see JeVonne, 9 months pregnant, cutting 20 lb tiles in 95 degree weather and she says, "Don't tell my mom."

Kali had a blast doing all things girly with Anna - how forever blessed my kids are to have such a hands on, fun-loving aunt. They ADORE her!

One of our favorite days was when we got to have Johnny over for a day. Kali and Blake were in heaven loving on this little guy. So was I.

John and Em's anniversary was the day after we arrived in UT. I was planning on suprising her on her doorstep, but that plan got foiled (it's OK Mom, I know you were just really excited we were coming). She had the whole day planned out and part of that included dinner at the Roof Restaraunt where she (and I) went the day she was propsed to. (I did not go to the Roof the day she was proposed to - only the day I was proposed to ;)). It was a touching night, especially hearing John's 6 page version of their engagement story she found on his laptop almost a year after he died. That's a treasure.

Mom had so many fun things planned. This is the kiddos at the Children's Museum. They loved it and I loved watching Kali doing all things medical.

I don't have great pictures to post about my other two favorite events of the Summer of 2009 - having our mommies come out. My mom came out twice to help us move twice. Wow, that was not a bad dream - we really did move twice (shiver). I don't know what we would have done without her. Literally. She cleaned, played with kids, helped pack, helped unpack, got lunches and dinners, sotcked the new house with the essentials and essentially kept me sane. It was like she'd done it a few times in her life.

Steve's mom also came out at the end of the summer. Thanks goodness. I was training for the triathlon, getting ready to take the family to Courtney's wedding, throw the bridal shower, move in and start a new calling. It was about midnight on Saturday; we were frosting 50 cupcakes for Cupcake Sunday (to celebrate all the birthdays for the month in our youth group) and she turned to me and said "Are all your weeks like this?" No, thank goodness they are not, but I was so grateful she was here! She brought a suitcase full of bow making things, had me pull down Kali's fall/winter wardrobe and we made the most darling bows to match everything. Kali gets compliments all the time. She cooked the most amazing meals all week, kept the kitchen spotless, loved the kids to death and spoiled us rotten.

Aren't Moms the best?

If you made it to the end of this bit of our history, just know I will sleep better at night having written about this fabulous, blessed summer.