I "Heart" my Oregon friends!

Since we moved here almost six months ago (wow!), we have been so lucky to have visits from wonderful friends. The good thing about moving to Utah is that a lot of people come here to visit family or to pass through. I can't wait to see more of you! And hope to get some repeat visits as well. (Lots of hint dropping here!) Our first Oregon friend came just before Christmas. I was so thrilled to hear from Kelly and find a time that she could come. (Though, I missed Tylin )o: her daughter, who was one of my YW.) We love Kelly - the girls were almost as excited as I was that she was stopping by. It was fun to take her on the official new house tour, but we got side-tracked a lot just talking. I loved hearing about the ward and how everyone was doing. It was weird saying goodbye and not seeing her just walk home. (We lived just around the corner from each other.) It was a quick visit, but it was so great to hang out for a little bit and catch up. It felt so comfortable and easy having an old friend to talk to. Thanks so much for coming Kelly! Love ya lots! Shortly after Christmas, we got to see the Halls! Natalie was so excited to see Lydia. These were our wonderful "backyard" neighbors and good friends. Natalie and Lydia were best buds and all our kids got along so well. It is such a weird feeling not having them right behind us. I miss Shannan's incredible pies she used to pass over the fence to us. How my stomach aches for those pies! (o: It was so fun to hang out and show the house and try to talk them into buying the house behind us here. (o: We got to go out to lunch all together and had such a fun time. We laughed a lot and talked about getting together again in the summer. It was so nice to have Shannan and Matt and the kids visit. We miss them lots! Cute Shannan - It felt just like "old times" hanging out again! These two made plans for a sleepover in the summer! In February I got a text from Kaitlyn that she was going to be in our neck of the woods over President's Day weekend. Yahoo! Monday night she and Alan (her dad) came over after a day of exploring the BYU campus. Again, the girls were so excited (they loved my young women) - we had a fantastical time talking, eating homemade ice cream. Love ya Katie!! I love hanging out with you! (Man, this post is making me homesick . . . ) And just last week we were so excited to see Tina and Tori! Angela has had a picture of Tori on her dresser in a cute "Friends" frame that Tori gave her before we left. Whenever my girls have a "sleepover" on the weekends, Angela brings her pillow, her blanket, a doll and the picture of her and Tori. (o: They had fun playing just like old times, while Tina and I talked. A tradition that Tina and I had through every one of our kids. I still remember hanging out while Sarah and Taylor crawled around on our living room floors. Tina always had the best advice, listening ear and fun ideas. I can't believe how fast time goes by. Look how color coordinated we are! I miss you tons Tina! Thanks soooo much for coming! You're the best!

And just recently, I finally got to visit Kirstin, who happens to be a fellow Utahn (for now). I never would have guessed that when she and Jeff came to get an MBA at BYU that we would be following them here a year later. I'm so glad our paths crossed before they graduate and head to California. The girls and I headed down to Provo on one of their days off at school and we spent an afternoon with Kirstin and Lia, who has grown up so much!

I loved getting to see Kirstin's home and talk about her new adventures coming up. We always have the best talks and Kirstin always makes me want to be a better person. (o: She is awesome. It was a wonderful Friday afternoon together!

My amazing Oregon friends will always be near and dear to my heart. They taught me so much and took such good care of my little family during the decade we spent far away from our extended family. They were our surrogate extended family and mean the world to us - and ALWAYS will. Hugs and Kisses to all you Oregonians reading this post. Love you all - and I'm working on catching up on the blog from January so you can see what we've been up to!

Science Fair 2011

Well, it's that time of year again, science fair time! As you know we love these and even though this year it wasn't required for Sarah, she still participated - with my encouragement. (O: We looked online for several ideas and she liked the idea of doing ocean science. We found this idea on sciencebuddies.com It's called, "Can Water Float on Water?" And we both were fascinated with what we learned. Basically we inverted different water substances on top of each other in the water bottles. We made different solutions - fresh water, salt water (various amounts of salt), warm water and cold water. We tried salty on top of fresh, warm on top of cold, etc. It was very cool. The ones like below that didn't mix colors seemed to be happy right where they were.




The one above, was an example of different solutions that wanted to switch places. The cold water on top was more dense and wanted to be on the bottom. The warm air wanted to rise up. The colors mixed to green in these cases.

Sarah worked so hard on this. I helped her lay it out, but she did almost the whole thing. This year was also particularly hard because the science fair is more demanding than the ones we participated in in Oregon. Here, you have to not only make a poster, but put together a binder with all kinds of information. It took hours to put just the folder together.

When Sarah came home from school the next day, she was sooo excited. Her project was chosen to go to district! This will be her third year in a row doing a district science fair. Way to go Sarah!

Science Guy

For Science Club in March, one of the dads came (apparently, this is tradition) and brought some liquid nitrogen and froze a bunch of different things. One of the moms said this has nothing to do with his job, it's a hobby. Liquid Nitrogen - that is unique!

The kids and adults enjoyed watching this dad and his son freeze marshmallows, a feather duster, a barbie doll and all kinds of other weird things and then smash them.



My girls always love a good "explosion" and this definitely fit the bill!

Family Pics!

I wanted to post this one for Kaylynn. I finally got our beautiful pictures up in a frame. I should have taken a shot of the 2 8x10's I have framed on the wall too. I wanted family pictures of us in Oregon before we left and my very talented friend Kaylynn Matteson (a little plug for her!) took these for us. It was weird being on the other side of the camera. I am sooo not a natural on that side of the lens. It was fun to hang out and is one of my last memories with a good friend before we left. So these pictures are a little bittersweet to me. She did a fabulous job of making us look good! Thanks Kaylynn. (o:

Guess What We Put Out?

When we told the girls last summer that we were moving to Utah, the first two questions they asked were, "Can we bring Twilight?" and "Can we bring the trampoline?" Those were their two main things they wanted if we were going to uproot them from everything they knew.


When we moved into the house last November, it wasn't the time to set it up. So the girls have waited anxiously for several months and finally were reunited with their beloved yard toy. If only we could have brought our awesome swingset too.

Angela's Bi-lingual Adventure

Recently, our school joined in a new Chinese Immersion Program that sounded really exciting to me. Our nephew participated in this same program at his school and has had a great experience so far. I attended the informational meeting at our school to decide if we wanted to have Angela participate. I came away from that meeting so excited about the program I couldn't wait for Ang to be a part of it. The state is really working hard to create a future work force that is ready to participate in the job market with China. They are investing in teaching the children Chinese.

I think it is a fantastic idea and it's exciting to see the how the program works. When school starts, she will spend half the day with a Chinese teacher learning mostly math. There is no speaking English allowed. Usually, the kids don't even know their teacher can actually speak English. Even when parents come in to help, the teachers don't speak English to them. The other half of the day is with a regular teacher who works on their English reading skills and writing. The parents who have been in to help say that they have even learned some of the Chinese words while volunteering.

The children already participating have actually excelled in mathematics when it is taught in Chinese and the teachers hired are native speakers so they learn the correct pronunciations and intonations which is the hardest part of learning Chinese. The other thing that I thought was really cool was that the grant, as of now, pays for the children entering to continue through 6th grade. They are working on programs that will continue through jr. high and high school. BYU and the U of U are also working on college level courses that can be taught in the high schools, so that if students are interested, they can actually achieve a minor in Chinese before they graduate from high school. How cool is that? When I told Angela the day we got a phone call letting us know she was accepted into the program, this was her reaction . . .

She is excited to learn and is constantly noticing Chinese characters. Whenever she hears about China or Chinese she tells people, "I'm going to learn that!" I bought her some Chinese flashcards and a CD and she loves to look at them and listen to the CD. She will also get to participate in a special summer Chinese camp where she will get to meet her teacher and do some fun cultural activities to get her ready for this big change.

The day we found out Angela was officially in the program, we went to celebrate at a Chinese restaurant. It was fun because we could hear the workers speaking to each other in Mandarin and we reminded Angela that she would understand that someday!

Ang didn't really eat much at the restaurant. Hopefully, she'll learn to appreciate things like the food. (o: I couldn't help but tease Angela that the students in the Chinese program have to eat Chinese food for lunch. Her face was priceless! She was having second thoughts on the whole thing. When I told her I was teasing, it was one of the most relieved looks I've seen on her little face. (o:

The Everyday

I don't remember how long ago we started "store" - it's been over a year. The girls get Disney bucks for good behavior and then they get to use their bucks at the mom "store". They still haven't gotten tired of buying little trinkets and always spend tons of time deciding on what they want.

Natalie still has a reputation for very colorful fashion sense. There are still some days when she comes downstairs that I have to blink a few times to get past all the colors and patterns going on!

This is a favorite hiding spot for Angela and Natalie - our winter gear box in the closet. The cat also enjoys hopping in here for naps when the closet is left open.

Angela is learning how to do her laundry now. She is getting so big!

4H Demonstrations

We have had the opportunity this past year to participate in a 4H group that one of our neighbors leads. The girls have enjoyed learning lots of things and making new friends. One of the activities we did was called Demonstrations. The girls pick any skill and teach it to the group. There was actually a competition coming up that the girls could participate in, so we did a practice run for those who wanted to compete. Sarah and Natalie have been learning this last year how to do their own laundry, so that is the skill they decided to demonstrate. They made an adorable washer and dryer out of old boxes and did a wonderful job.

All the girls watching took down notes and shared their input after each demonstration.

Angela and her best friend Abbi did a cute demonstration on how to make watercolor clovers. Abbi's mom, Amy, worked hard teaching them how to do a demonstration and practiced with them during 3 different play dates. They were so cute and excited about it. Angela wanted to practice with me a lot the day of her demonstration. They did so good, especially considering they were the youngest in the group!

St. Patrick's Day Troublemaker

Last year in Family Fun, they had some fun ideas for leprechaun traps that I wanted to try. My girls love trying to "catch" Lucky the leprechaun and see the mischief that he makes when he comes. We decided to try the funny hat trap. Lucky is lured to the gold on top of the hat and climbs the ladder. When he steps on top, the hat gives way and he gets stuck at the bottom.

The sign telling Lucky what NOT to do, tempts him to disobey because leprechauns are full of mischief.

The next morning the girls found green confetti all over and a mess in the kitchen. They were so excited to see if they trapped Lucky. Unfortunately, he got away, but he left golden treats behind.



As he often does, Lucky had to use the bathroom apparently. He always makes a little mess and forgets to flush. (O: (see the green toilet water - the girls' favorite part)

I love this funny mask Angela made at school. (O:

Ms. Sarah

I love the creative things the girls come up with when they are playing. I found Sarah "teaching" her dolls one day when I came up to her room. She loves using her big whiteboard when she is "teaching".

I like how she gave each doll a pad of paper and pencil. And on top of that, she wrote their names at the top and assigned them each a number like her teacher this year did. What a cutie.

Here Comes the Bride!

Natalie has an adorable teacher at school this year. We have loved Miss Duncan. The kids were so excited after Christmas break to see what she got for Christmas - an engagement ring! She is so cute and sent each one of her students their own wedding invitation in the mail which meant the world to all of the kids. Natalie loved looking at the picture of her teacher with her fiance. I think all the little girls in that class had a crush on her fiance! They could not wait for the reception.

Since the reception was out in Midvale, we decided to carpool with Nat's best friend Janie and her mom. Janie is adorable and I have loved getting to know her mom, she's so fun. We had a great time watching the girls anticipation of seeing their teacher and congratulating her. They were so hilarious and got more and more nervous as the line got closer and closer to her. It was like Miss Duncan was a celebrity all of a sudden. Natalie even asked if there would be news cameras there. (o:

The new Mrs. Tingey was very gracious and so cute with the girls. She and her cute husband were so grateful we came out and waited in the long line. I love how Janie has one of the orchids on top of her head in the picture above. (O: She is such a silly - which is why she and Nat get along so well.

We had a great night and I was glad to have a chance to get to visit with Lisa (Janie's mom).

The girls found plenty of other friends at the reception too! It was quite the party!

Sweet Baby Kate

My sister in law told me about a friend of hers who had to deliver her baby very early due to some complications with her pregnancy. My heart went out to her even though I didn't know who she was. I thought it would be neat to help get pictures of her since she was at my mom's hospital and I love little babies. (Mom manages the NICU) So I made the offer to come get some shots of her while she was still itty bitty. Look at those teensy tinsy feet. When I took these, baby Kate was just under 2 pounds.

Shawnte was such a sweet and loving mama. It was fun to meet her. I admire her strength through such a heartwrenching trial.

This is Shawnte's wedding ring!

Little Kate had some meds just before we came so she was very sleepy.

But we managed to get one little peek! (o: What a little angel.

The Silly Dog Story

Once upon a time, I was doing the usual afternoon routine. Doing the dishes, encouraging the little persons in our home to do piano practice, homework, chores, etc. It was all very normal except for the never ending yapping noise coming from the front yard. Our neighborhood has a lot of dogs and some that like to bark, so at first I didn't think anything of it. But it didn't stop and it sounded closer than the usual barking noises. One of the girls finally looked outside and realized that the dog was indeed in our yard, on our sidewalk by the porch. I checked out the situation. It was a little dog, with no owner just yipping away and as I approached it, the yipping got more intense and very loud. Someone walked by on our sidewalk and the dog went crazy, like it was protecting our house or something. I apologized and explained it wasn't even our dog.

Now I have never had a dog. I don't know much about them. I think some dogs are cute, but I wouldn't say I'm a dog person. (Heck, I'm not even a cat person, but I have a cat.) Anyway, I wasn't really sure what to do. I tried to "shew" him/her away with no luck. "Oh well," I thought, "His or her owners will find it pretty easier if I just let it bark here for a while." I went back to my usual routine and mostly forgot about the dog. The barking kind of faded to the background. However, after about an hour and a half, I was starting to get annoyed. That little thing did not shut up that WHOLE time! I couldn't believe something could go on so consistently for so long.

I decided to head back out with a broom this time to scoot the little thing which had moved up to our porch. At one point, someone tried bringing something to our porch and just about got their hand bit off. It was getting ridiculous. That little thing would NOT budge. I had to push it's whole body weight. The poor little thing was so scared it peed on the porch - my feelings were annoyance and sympathy at the same time. I was at a loss so I called Bob* for ideas. He headed home and managed to get the thing off our porch, but it just went in our backyard and hid under the back stairs.

Our next idea was to start asking neighbors and making phone calls. Bob* took a picture on his phone and walked around to all the neighbors houses. I made phone calls using the ward list and my limited knowledge on people in the ward who had dogs. We had a few leads that all piddled out. No one knew someone who was missing a dog after all. Luckily, the poor thing finally got tired and stopped barking. We decided we did everything we could. But then as we watched the news, we realized it was going to get pretty cold - in the 30's that night. That dog was sure annoying, but I didn't have the heart to let him freeze to death. So at 11:00 p.m. the two of us headed outside with a flashlight, a broom and a box. Thank heavens the little thing didn't put up a fight like he had before. We got him in the box pretty easily and took him to the garage where it was lots warmer. We put in an old shirt, some water and a little cat food and hoped he would stay quiet during the night.

This was him the next morning. He was good and didn't make a peep all night. He didn't even make any messes in the box. We still weren't sure what to do. I got a hold of a nice lady at the local shelter and I ended up taking him (or her?) over. It was kind of funny how sad I felt dropping him/her off - I felt so bad for the little thing and was grateful that he seemed to figure out we were trying to help him so he stopped being annoying. Angela and I decided to make some signs to put up around the neighborhood with the phone number to the shelter. Ang was a good little helper. (o:

The lady at the shelter was really sweet and grateful. She told us to Friend the shelter on Facebook so we could keep up on the little dog's status. (They can only keep the animals for so many days, so we were a little worried.) The next day we got great news that the family either saw our signs or just called the shelter and came to pick up their little dog. Hopefully they got a tag to put on him/her so that doesn't happen again. (O: We were so glad that this little dog's story was a happy ending. It would have devastated the girls. They really wanted to keep it. Thank heavens it didn't come to that!

Will's Mission Report

After our fun day with Will upon his arrival from Japan, we got to do some more celebrating with him at his homecoming. It was so neat to attend his ward and hear his mission report and some of the growing experiences he had on his mission. This was shortly after the earthquake in Japan so his emotions were especially tender that day as he spoke of the Japanese people he learned to love so much.

It was very cool to hear him bear his testimony of the Savior in Japanese. Vern* and I got to sit next to one of his companions from his mission which was fun. I just feel so proud of these awesome young men that go out and do miraculous work with so much faith at just 19 -21 years old. This is usually the stage of life when boys can be especially focused on themselves, but our church asks them to sacrifice everything to serve others and the Lord. It really is an amazing thing to see how mature and selfless these young men become during those two years. In other words, I felt very proud of my awesome cousin. And just a side note - not to give all the attention to Will. His older brother Charlie, came home just a year ago as well and I felt the same way. It was a bummer though that I didn't get to be a part of all his fun homecoming celebrating since we were in Oregon. They are good boys. Ahem, good men, I mean. Manly men. (o:

A little Simon Says is always a good way to celebrate!



Kimmie made the most adorable cupcakes for the occasion! Everything is candy. I like the broccoli the best!

My long lost cousin Megan. Well, I guess, I'm really the long lost cousin. I can't help but point out Lara's hilarious face in the background. He he! Sorry Lara! I want to know what she is saying.