The Bluebonnets

All growing up I remember my mom taking us out in the spring and getting pictures in the fields of bluebonnets. Last year was my first time to see the bluebonnets in full bloom and have children of my own. I was so disappointed when it was too cold to get the pictures. I promised myself that the following year I would not let that opportunity slip past. It was also funny to me that I cared so much about it. Well, this year we were invited to Troy and Becky's ranch which is out where all the bluebonnets are in bloom. I packed up the girl's Easter dresses (thanks to my mom for making them) and we headed out. I was able to finally get the bluebonnet pictures of my children! Of course Spencer fell asleep on the drive, and did not want to wake up, thus the crying pictures of Spencer.
All the cousins out at the ranch: Tyler, Danielle, Austin, Audrey, Camie, and Taneal (and Spencer not shown in the picture)

Crab Fishing?

Wouldn't it be fun to turn this . . .
into this?

Well, we thought it would be fun trying. So, we headed down to the beach , and tried this . . .





and this is what we caught.



We had a lot of fun. The temperature was in the 60's, but with the 25 mph wind, it was cold. The water was warm, so it was fun to put your feet in, until you had to take your feet out. Then, it was so cold you had to put them right back in again.


Taneal was the only one to catch a crab. We tried crab fishing by tying a chicken leg to the end of some string and throwing it into the water. Everyone had a crab latch on, but the bringing it out into the net was a little harder. Even though it was very cold, we had so much fun. All the kiddos were such a good sport! We ended up just letting the crab go back into the ocean since we had only one.

St Patrick's Day

St Patrick's Day is such a fun holiday in our family. We start out the holiday the Eve of St Patrick's by decorating small treasure boxes and putting them outside under the light of the moon. If you do this the leprechauns have to fill your box full of treasures. There was success again this year. When those girls woke up at 6am they acted like it was Christmas. I finally let them go downstairs and see if they had treasures. I could hear the excitement as I stayed in bed and tried to go back to sleep. The leprechauns left them green t-shirts, green lip gloss, green fruit roll-ups, and other small green stuff and some coins.























I didn't notice that Danielle had her eyes crossed in this picture until I put them on my computer today. What a silly little girl!

I started off the menu with green. Here is what we ate for the day. I did no prior shopping so we made due with what was in the house:

breakfast: green malt-o-meal

green milk

lunch: green macaroni and cheese

kiwi

cucumbers

supper: green brown rice

chicken (I thought it might turn out pretty disgusting to color the chicken green)

salad

green beans

green gravy

green Kool-aide

Everyone was a pretty good sport, with a few exceptions. Spencer loves his milk and when he saw me filling up his sippy cup with green milk, he grabbed the lid and ran and said, "want water!" Danielle didn't care so much for the green rice and kept trying to say, "I want white rice." You should try saying "white rice" out loud. It is kind of hard to say.

Is it summer already?

The temperature reached above 80 degrees so Evan decided it was warm enough to get out the little pool and let Danielle and Spencer play in the water. As you can tell from the pictures, they quite agreed. Those two little kids know how to have so much fun. They played and giggled and had the time of their lives and it didn't get old. Wouldn't it be great to have the enthusiasm and vigor of little children? Okay, I could do without the saggy diaper!

Spencer and his trike

Spencer has gotten really good at riding his trike. The other day Evan said he was going to go with Spencer to get the mail. Well, I stayed outside because the sun was finally shining and it was a beautiful day. You should have seen Spencer take off on his trike. He took off ahead of Evan and Evan could barely keep up. Spencer was so fast and steered the tricycle so well. I was shocked. The only problem was Spencer can't use the pedals. Either that or he won't use the pedals. Take a close look at the picture of Spencer by himself. Evan finally took some wire and tied Spencer's shoes to the pedals so that Spencer would have to learn to use them. Evan tried to get Spencer to use the pedals and finally tied a jump rope to the handle bars and took Spencer for a walk with his shoes tied to the petals. When they returned Spencer was ready to have his freedom to ride the bike the way he preferred. Evan won't give up. This is his little boy and he is determined to show him how to ride the proper way!

Soccer Season Over

Taneal has her last soccer game Saturday. She loved playing soccer last fall, especially with her Aunt as the coach and her cousin playing on the team. When Becky signed up to coach again, Taneal was so excited and really wanted to play. She played a great season and was even referred to as the "monster" because suddenly she had all this aggression and really went after the ball. I didn't know Taneal had that in her. It was fun to see it come out and watch Taneal have a great time playing the game.

Not only was Becky her coach, but her cousin, Audrey, and her friend from church, Samantha, were also on the team. Hopefully Becky will decide to coach in the fall, but if not maybe Taneal and Audrey can try a different sport. Maybe baseball again or gymnastics.

Time Out

In our family, "time-out" means standing in the corner. Spencer has seen his sisters stand in the corner many times and has recently spent a little time there himself. I took this picture because Spencer did something he knew he wasn't supposed to and put himself in the corner. How cute is that?

Spencer's hair

Spencer's hair has been a battle between Evan and I for a while. I guess it all started with Evan finally getting a son. Spencer's first Easter came and I made dresses for all the girls and was feeling bad because I hadn't made Spencer anything. Evan told me he had let me mess with the girls and dress them up all these year, I was not to mess with his boy. Maybe that comment was from the Easter tie I made for Evan a few years ago that matched the girl's Easter dresses. He wore it to church and didn't complain!

When Spencer finally started to get hair and it was growing too long, I decided to cut it. I have been cutting Evan's hair since before we were married, so I figured I had 12 years of experience and didn't think anything of it. Well, as many of you know, babies do not hold still when the clippers are put to the back of their head. I gave Spencer a quick haircut and thought I did a fine job, considering all the movement Spencer was doing. Evan disagreed.

The next time Spencer needed a haircut, I decided to put the longest guard on the clippers to do the top of his hair. I thought the spikey look would be cute on Spencer, but not quite a buzzed look. I thought the haircut turned out okay,a little shorter then I wanted, but still pretty good. Evan completely disagreed and was not happy. He said I was not to touch Spencer's hair again.

Well, five months passed and Spencer had not had a haircut because Evan wanted to give it to him. My little boy was starting to look like a girl. Evan said the back could use a little trim, but I was not to use clippers. So, I used scissors, wet his hair, and trimmed his neckline. Yah, he looked butchered! If I could have just used the clippers I could have done a fine job, but I was following instructions. Again, Evan was not happy. I agreed to leave Spencer alone. Evan agreed to give him his next haircut.

That haircut lasted three different sessions, each a week or two apart, and Spencer came away majorly butchered and a tongue covered with hair and belly full of hair. Evan agreed that it wasn't as easy as he thought and maybe I had done a decent job.

So, today I decided it was haircut time again, and in five minutes I gave him this hairdo. I think Evan must have traumatized Spencer because as soon as I pulled out the clippers, Spencer started crying and complaining. M&Ms somewhat solved the problem and this picture is the results. Not perfect, but good.

Danielle and Lindsay

I've posted a picture of these two cute girls before, but I never put any kind of explanation. Lindsay is Danielle's super great friend. Lindsay is the daughter of a good friend of mine that lives in the same subdivision with me, giving Danielle and Lindsay a lot of time to play together, especially while older siblings are away at school. I am amazed every time the two get together because they play so well. They rarely fight and play for hours on hours and never want to go home. Their favorite thing to do together is put on make-up and play dress-ups. The two just disappear upstairs and play. My children have had many friends play and after a while it grows old or they start to fight, or it turns into babysitting, especially when they are three years old. We love having Lindsay over. Lindsay is a big part of Danielle's life whether it is at our house or Lindsay's. It is great to find good friends for your children who come from a home with the same standards as ours (And Lindsay's mom is fun to hang out with, too).

And they wonder why we love Texas

Last week was open house at the elementary school. Of course it was one of the moments where I forgot my camera. I love open house and seeing the excitement in my children as they show me the projects they work on. Evan went with Taneal and I went with Camie. I was so delighted as I saw Camie's projects. They were all about Texas! We went on a scavenger hunt around her classroom and she showed everything to me on her check-list. She showed me the Texas songs they were learning, the Texas craft projects she'd made, the Texas computer programs she'd been working on, the Texas stories she had written, and all the Texas facts she had learned. I was so proud! Although I am not always satisfied with the schools, I was so happy they were helping to teach the love of Texas that I learned growing up in Texas schools.

A Day at the Zoo

I finally got Evan to go to the zoo with me and the kiddos! We have only had one-year zoo passes three different times in the last eight years and he still has managed to not go. In fact, today he said that this was the first time he has ever been to the zoo! When he was on his mission he went to a wildlife park, but that has been it. We had a great day, the weather was great, and the kids were tired by the time we finished seeing all the animals they wanted to see.

Spencer especially enjoyed the elephants and the reptiles. While he was watching the snakes he started moving his tongue like the snake! 1 1/2 is such a great age.

I didn't get great pictures, but the ones I got will do. For some reason when I ask Spencer to smile for the camera, he closes his eyes!

I guess they do pay attention

I always wonder as a mother how much influence I really have on my children and how much they watch me. Well, the other night Spencer suddenly hopped off Evan's lap, ran to the bathroom and pretended to throw up. I missed that one and the three times he did it after that over the next few days. Well, I finally caught it on video. I guess Spencer has seen me throwing-up quite a few time over the last two months and thinks that that is just what you do!

Taneal's Birthday

Taneal turned 8! It is great to be 8! All she wanted for breakfast was donuts, instead of the cinnamon rolls I offered to make. I was grateful for her decision. For lunch she didn't want us to visit her at school because she cries when we leave. So, Evan picked her up early from school and took her to get an ice cream, only she wasn't hungry so she didn't get one. They went and got balloons. That night we had Troy and Becky over for a family party. Taneal wanted enchiladas for supper and she doesn't like icing, so she didn't want me to decorate a cake for her. She wanted her cake frosted with whip cream. I was getting off easy with everything!

For a gift we got her scriptures with her name engraved and a carrying case and a hymn book to match. She was very excited. Becky got Taneal such thoughtful gifts: a card making kit with assessories, a High School Musical shirt to wear while Taneal sings and dances to the movie, and new soccer shin guards. Taneal didn't like the ones she had., so she was very appreciative.

Taneal also was given the option to not have a friend party and just go out with a friend. So, Saturday night she and Bailey (her best friend from school who also had a birthday last week) went to a ceramic art shop and painted. Bailey's mom came because we were also celebrating Bailey's birthday. After two hours of painting, we went out to dinner at Chili's. It was a fun night and a great way to celebrate Taneal's birthday.

President Hinckley

I know many have posted about the passing of our beloved prophet, but I would feel ungrateful to not post it to my blog as well. He was a remarkable man and will be missed. I think it hit me of his passing when I was looking through a picture book that I made with Spencer. In this book was a picture of President Hinckley. I pointed to it to tell Spencer his name, and realized this sweet man is no longer here with us. I knew President Hinckley. He touched my life and helped me be a better person, a better mother, and a better wife. I am so grateful for a living prophet and that even though this great man will be missed, our Heavenly Father will not leave us without guidance and direction. He will give us another prophet who we can follow. And I think of the reunion of President Hinckley and his wife. What a glorious reunion.

Woes of Pregnancy

Colleen Melven

One of the most influential people of my life passed away Saturday morning after battling Melanoma cancer. She will be greatly missed.

This picture was taken this last summer.

About a month ago her son, who I was great friends with all through High School, emailed me and asked me to send some of my memories that they would compile into a book and give her as a Christmas present. Although I am not a great writer, I sent the information, and here is what I wrote:

One of my first memories is visiting Brother and Sister Melven when they lived in Ft Worth. I don’t remember where they lived, but they had a great back yard. Their lot seemed to be narrow and deep. I also remember they lived in a somewhat older home. My next memory goes to a long, long, long drive clear out in the middle of nowhere, maybe Arkansas (not really that far). They found some property that was in the hill-Billie country that they wanted to buy. It was very pretty but so far away. They did not end up buying that property because we both moved to Weatherford. One day I would like to know where that property is and if it really was that far out.

When I was twelve, Sister Melven became my Beehive advisor. She taught every Sunday. She really loved the girls in her class. She always had a great time and allowed us to enjoy ourselves while teaching the lesson. I always felt the spirit, I knew what Sister Melven was teaching was true, and I knew Sister Melven really did care about me. When I finished Beehives, I guess I hadn’t learned everything I was supposed to because Sister Melven was called to be my Sunday school teacher. She also taught again in Young Womens, she was always called to be some kind of teacher to me. I am a better person because of that. Sister Melven always was a part of my youth. I always respected her and loved her presence. I still have the high school graduation card they sent me. Even before Sister Melven got sick, I cried every time I read it because of the love and support they always extended to me. If I listed the five most influential people in my life, Sister Melven would be at the top. I really believe because of her willingness to serve throughout my youth, because her testimony that she shared, her love of the Savior, and her love of me, I was married in the temple and have been able to grow my testimony and truly be happy. She let me feel the spirit time and time again so that I recognized how precious it was and I desired to have it with me. She was always there encouraging me and lifting me up when I was down. I love sister Melven and I am so grateful the Lord used her as an instrument in my life.

One of my funniest memories was staying at the Melven’s home when they were out-of-town. I was in college and home for the summer. After finishing up at the snow cone stand, I went over to the Melven’s home to house-sit. They had a pet iguana. I am not a big animal person because quite frankly animals scare me. Yes, the iguana scared me. Not only did I not like the iguana, but one evening it managed to get loose in the house. There was no way I was going to sleep with that thing running around the house. I tried to capture it without getting to close, but to no avail. I finally called some guy I knew that lived in Ft Worth to come all the way out to Weatherford to catch the loose reptile. I think I might have even waited outside for my friend to come because I was so afraid of being in the house with that thing loose.

Another memory I have is of “TP”ing the Melven’s home. We set off with rolls and rolls of toilet paper and headed towards the Melven’s home. I guess my brother, Michael, was mad that he was left behind, and he called the Melvens and gave them a heads up that we were coming. Brother Melven was waiting on the front porch with the watering hose. I can’t remember if he got us wet or not, but I do remember getting in the car and taking off like a mad man down their narrow road in reverse. I accidentally touched the brakes too hard and did a 180 right in the road without touching the edges of the street. The front of the car magically spun around and I no longer needed to use reverse. I was scared out of my pants! I had never driven like that before and have never driven like that since then.

I have so many more memories, but just fragments of little things here and there. What stands out most is the influence this remarkable couple had on my life. I am a better person, a happier person because of Greg and Colleen Melven. I will miss Sister Melven so much.

On the first day . . . .

I received this email today and thought it was pretty funny. I hope you enjoy it:


On the first day, God created the dog and said:"Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years." The dog said: "That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?" So God agreed.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said: "Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span."The monkey said: "Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the dog did?" And God agreed.

On the third day, God created the cow and said: "You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family For this, I will give you a life span of sixty Years." The cow said: "That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?" And God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created man and said:"Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years." But man said: "Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?" "Okay," said God, "You asked for it."

So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves.
For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family.
For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren.
And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you...

My Little Penguin!

Last week I had my first ultrasound. The heart beat was strong and look at my little baby! It still is maturing and developing all its vital parts and has a long way to go, but how fun to be able to see it.

My Birthday

Last Friday was my birthday, over a week ago. Yes, I'm just now writing about it, but it us worth writing about. I live in a fantastic neighborhood and Ward with amazing people. Thursday night before my birthday, my friend Nichole, arranged to take me to the movies. She invited many of my friends and we went and saw PS, I Love You, the 10pm show. This didn't interfere with bedtimes so the husbands didn't mind. Nine of us ended up going to the late movie. It was a tear-jerker (and being pregnant didn't help)and a lot of fun to go out with the girls. We got home after midnight.

The next morning I was served breakfast-in-bed. My girls enjoyed helping Evan make pancakes and scrambled eggs with oranges and milk. Later that day my brother, Dan, showed up from out-of-town. He was only able to stay a short time, but I enjoyed seeing him. Nichole brought over some peanut-butter M&Ms, which I was actually able to eat. I had many happy birthday phone calls. Around 5, three of my other friends showed up with supper and a cake. Another friend dropped by banana bread and then Saturday night my sister-in-law, Becky, brought over supper and a gift card for a pedicure and movie. Friday night I called it quit right after dinner and went to bed. The kiddos stayed up and watched a movie with Evan while I snoozed away.

With as yucky as I have been feeling, I had a wonderful birthday. I live amongst the most wonderful people and I feel so blessed everyday to have such great friends and family. In the 33 birthdays that I have now had, this one will be remembered the most because of the kindness and generosity that was given in so many ways. Thanks for giving me such a great birthday!

And we even had to call the police!

I was so tired tonight that around 6pm I decided I needed to go to bed. I immediately fell asleep until I heard Camie crying because Danielle had pinched her. Evan was gratefully cooking supper and told Danielle to come downstairs so he could talk to her. Of course she wouldn't and he was in the middle of cooking, so the matter would be dealt with later. I fell back to sleep. About 20 minutes later Evan woke me up and said he had searched the entire house and couldn't find Danielle anywhere. I got up, searched closets, under beds, in stacks of laundry, under blankets, everywhere. Remember back to my blog entry titled "While you were sleeping" and Danielle had fallen asleep in a laundry basket in the closet? She has a terrible habit of hiding when she does something she knows she shouldn't, such as hurting her sister. She has scared me a few times before, but we were always able to find her within a few frantic minutes. This time Evan was really worried. I emptied the closets, ripped apart beds, and Danielle was no where to be found. We even turned on the fire alarm in hopes of waking her up so she would come out of hiding. Evan noticed the front door unlocked, and we always keep the door locked. He immediately started his search outside while shouting at me to call the neighbors and really start a search. I called a few friends and then 911. This whole time I was still searching my house. And my house isn't that big! The dispatcher kept me on the phone while I searched. Two of my neighbors came inside my house and were searching. Finally Evan came back home and told us that she had to be in the house. He walked behind the couch downstairs and under a few folded blankets, Danielle was sleeping. She is so small that she hid so well. We had checked there, but because the blankets were so thin and still folded, she was missed. Right as we found her, four police cars showed up outside. Several of my other neighbors were frantically searching outside. She scared us all so bad. I thought I had it in her head before that she should not hide from me when she thinks she is in trouble. I had her talk to the police to emphasize this point. Hopefully she doesn't scare us like this again. I was so grateful to have all the people that were helping look come over to me afterwards and hug me and Danielle and cry and tell us they love us. We have some pretty great neighbors and friends. Thanks to all who helped in the search!

Danielle learned to write her name!

We have been working on Danielle learning her name. I started teaching her to spell her name with a little jingle. I think I sung that song over one hundred times while we were running errands around town until one day I caught her singing it. She was so stubborn that she refused to sing it. Once she sang it completely, she got a cone from McDonalds. Since then I have been doing different activities to help her write her name and recognize the letters. About a week ago I used a big heart paper punch and punched out 8 hearts and wrote a letter from her name on each heart. She had to put them in the right order by herself by singing the song. I bribed her with a Strawberry Shortcake Movie, and she learned to write her name (still using the hearts, but arranging them without my help). She earned the movie. Over the last few days Danielle has learned to write her name without the use of the hearts and spent most of Sacrament Meeting yesterday writing her name.

Well done, Danielle!

Is my memory really that bad?

I don't have any fancy pictures or video clips. I also am way behind on new posts. What I am doing is a lot of laying around on my couch trying to eat crackers and ice chips in hopes of not throwing up. We are expecting baby number five and couldn't be more excited. I was hoping to be pregnant by December so that the baby would be born before Sept 1, thus not putting more then a year in between Spencer and the baby. All my children will be two years apart in school. Perfect timing, right? In the planning of it, yeah. But things happen. I sat through Sacrament Meeting today listing to all the comments about how the Lord refines those He loves through trials. I think I am very loved. I am blessed. I really am excited to be having another child, but the stress of circumstances around me are a bit overwhelming.

The stress started when Evan called me late in November and told me his company was laying off 260 employees, including us. At the time of planned pregnancy our insurance covered us 100% with no deductible. Free baby sounds great! Well, now that has changed. Baby just went from free to $12,000! I just had one eighteen months ago, I'm pretty confident on the price. Not to worry, right? So a week after Evan was layed off we found out we were pregnant. Very excited, but also very worried. Christmas came, as did a new transmission in my van. Evan was on the way to pick up my brother and his family for the holidays at the airport when the transmission suddenly went out and he had to turn around and come home. The tow truck took the van to the transmission place. OUCH! I'm back and running, just a little thinner.

Now to the title of this post. I have had four pregnancies before. I should remember what the first trimester is like? You'd think. As I remember, morning/all day sickness didn't start until week 7. This one started at week 5. With my others I could have used a nap, but it wasn't necessary. This one I lay on the couch all day. I swear I am not being lazy, but my body is sooo tired. I have no energy or motivation. I also have no appetite. I don't remember that part either. Evan and I got a sitter last night and we went out to dinner (yes, I was in my comfy pants) at a favorite Mexican restaurant. We never go out to dinner so this was a real treat. I was practically salivating as I was ordering. The waitress brought me my dinner and I took two bites and couldn't eat any more. I was so nauseated! I started crying! I wanted this food so bad and I couldn't eat it! I know my memory isn't that bad. This pregnancy is being just plain hard. It is all of my pregnancies combined times 10! I want this baby bad, but I think I have a lesson or two to learn before it gets here.

And a side note, who shows at 7 weeks? Not just thinks they're showing, but really is? All my normal clothes are snug and uncomfortable. The only thing that fit for church today was an elastic waist skirt!

And here I am adding to my blog because this is a place where you can learn all about me. Actually, I was trying to sleep but Evan has this horrible snore that regardless of how hard I try to ignore it, I just can't. If he rolls over, he stops snoring. When Evan initially falls asleep he isn't too friendly, so regardless of how persistent I was, he refused to roll over and I refused to lay in bed getting mad, so I came downstairs to vent on my blog. And Evan won't remember a thing when he wakes up in the morning!