The Year in Review!

I finally got our Christmas cards sent out, better late than never.  Thanks to all of you who sent pictures or cards or whatever sort of update on your lives.  We LOVE getting Christmas cards.  I put all of them up on our wall and the girls ask about who everyone is and how we know them and "Who is my age?"  It's so fun to tell them about all of our wonderful friends we have collected over the years in the various places we have lived.  You continue to bless our lives even though we don't see you very often.  I put our blog address our little picture Christmas card, so for those of you just tuning in, I thought I'd give a brief summary of the year and the girls.  

We have our first teenager in the house-Christa turned 13 in May.  She has been busy, busy, busy with school (Treasure Valley Math and Science Center, and Riverglen Junior High), violin, piano, volleyball, and Young Women activities.  She loves being involved. She got braces a few weeks ago.  She is still a bookworm, though reading usually comes out of her sleep.  She is in choir this year and loves making up harmonies to songs.  

Alexis is super excited to be turning 12 in February.  She also started at the Math and Science Center, and goes to Hidden Springs Charter school for the other 1/2 of the day.  She is playing cello and piano and school basketball. She started babysitting and loves earning her own money.  Paisley loves Lexi as her second Mom!

Emma turned 10 in October.  She is also taking piano lessons and is doing well in school.  She loves working with Ryan on wood projects in the garage and is looking forward to finishing her kayak in the next year.

Sierra turned 8 in October and was baptized a member of our church.  We are so proud of her for making this decision.  Her school teacher is incredibly energetic and really brings out the best in Sierra.  Her class was involved in a Food drive in November and Sierra could hardly leave for school without taking 3 or 4 cans from our food storage.  She played soccer in the spring, and was the fastest girl on the field!

Anya loves preschool and is our little drama queen.  She started violin lessons and loves to think about and talk about playing the violin, though she doesn't always love actually practicing.  Christa is working with her on this and it's fun to see them work together. She loves the American Girls doll Kit, and had her hair cut so that she could look just like Kit.  (Until she decided to cut it herself last week.  See previous post.)  She is also taking ballet and loves dancing around the house when one of the girls is playing piano.  

The highlight of our year was the addition of Paisley to our family.  She was born February 2, on a cold and snowy morning.  She is a generally happy baby and we all adore her.  Even with our 6th, I am constantly amazed at how she grows and changes daily. She is saying her first words and taking her first steps.  

Ryan's practice continues to grow and he is enjoying his work.  He was able to take a few days off to go to the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota this fall, with several friends, for some much needed guy time.  He also spent a couple of weeks in Portland learning how to build a guitar and always has several woodworking projects at various stages of completion.  He also enjoyed experiencing Alaska with the rest of the family this year.  

I'm just trying to keep everyone where they need to be and keep the household, and Ryan's practice, running smoothly.  

We had two kittens and a new puppy join our family and they keep Ryan company in the garage.  We had to put our old cat, Mouser, to sleep this summer and we miss her.  

A few of our adventures include our family reunion in Eastern Idaho, a week in Alaska, a quick trip to Disneyland, a conference in Victoria, BC, as well as camping and canoeing around Boise.

We are grateful for the many blessings which we have enjoyed this year, especially for our relationships with each other, with you, and with our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We hope this year has been a good one for you and yours as well.  Keep in touch! 

Merry Christmas!

This has been a great week.  We got enough of a break in the weather to go over to Pocatello for my Mom's 60th birthday.  All of my siblings and spouses were there except for my sister Teri and her family, who came at Thanksgiving time, and my brother-in-law Will who is serving a 6 month tour of duty in Baghdad.  We went out to dinner, just the grown-ups, which was great.  Of course we were true to form and 1/2 an hour late because it took longer than we planned to get all of Ryan's work done so that we could get on the road, but it was fun just the same.  (Punctuality has got to be one of my New Year's resolutions).  We came back on Wednesday in time for the girls to finish up their gifts for each other.  We have a tradition of the kids making gifts for each of their sisters.  It's so fun to watch them get excited about giving something they really put a lot of effort into.  Then we had our Christmas Eve program, with the reading of the Nativity Story, and then sent everyone to bed.  Christmas day the girls are great about not waking Mom and Dad up too early, so we got to sleep in until about 8:00 am.  Then we opened stockings, had a nice breakfast, and opened our other gifts.  We kept things pretty simple this year, but all of the girls were happy with their gifts, and excited to give the things they had made.  We got more snow on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, mixed with some rain and ice. It was great to have a white Christmas.   The girls are having fun sledding.  We went out today and found a couple of new sleds, since the dog ate our sled from last year. Hopefully we'll get up to the ski resort pretty soon to enjoy their new snow.   

Playing Catch-up

The last few weeks have been insanely crazy.  I'm sure many of you have felt the same.  At 1:00 am it becomes a question of blogging or sleeping.  I have chosen sleep.   So, I'm finally getting to some posts I've had on my mind for a few weeks.   Enjoy.

Haircut

I guess it was inevitable.   Anya has been telling me she wanted "vangs" in her hair for weeks.  She got a bit impatient waiting for me to take her to our friend that usually cuts the girls' hair for me, and took matters into her own hands. Hands with scissors that is.   She now has very short "vangs" right in front, as well as some nice side layers.  She wasn't looking in the mirror when she did it and I gave her a bath and then she combed her own hair after.  That's when she realized this was not how she planned it.  "It's not beautiful!" she cried.  Well, she's right about that.  She asked me to fix it  and I tried to explain that cutting it shorter would not actually fix it, but that we have to wait for it to grow.   At least she likes wearing headbands, because she will be wearing a very wide one on the front of her head every day for the next several months, I guess.  

House update

We have a roof on most of 

the house. It's good to have 

it protected from at least 

some of the snow, though 

it still blows in the windows.

Look who is Walking!

This little miss is on the move.  She took her first few steps about 10 days ago and gets a bit more brave every day.  The girls love to play the walk back and forth game.  She can stand herself up and will transfer between chairs or other things that are close together, but if it's more than a few steps away, she still prefers her speedy crawling.  She gets up and down the stairs without any trouble at all, and has even tried to walk down the stairs while holding onto the bannister.  That makes me a bit nervous.   She'll be running in no time.  

Braces

After many consult visits and much procrastination by Mom, Christa finally got braces a couple of weeks ago.  She has adjusted well and hardly complained about the achy mouth and shredded lips that go along with new braces--thank you, ibuprofen.  For me, this was one of those strange parenting moments that has reminded me that somehow I have the responsibility for 6 growing girls.  How did I get here?  I still feel like I could be the one in braces. 

Our new family member

We have a new little girl in the family.   Ryan took a quick trip in to Cabela's, and a family was sitting outside selling yellow lab puppies.   The plan was to wait until we moved to get a new puppy--he's been puppy hungry for awhile now.  But this was love at first sight.  We named her Jill (so we can sing the nursery rhyme when she plays with Jack, our 2 1/2 year old lab)  and she is very cute.  It's just a good thing Ryan works from home and can take care of her during the day. 

House update

The main floor of our new house is nearly framed in, and they will probably be starting on the second level tomorrow.  It's so fun to walk through and imagine where we will put things and how each room will be used.  Very exciting.  We have to decide on windows today and then on the heating/cooling system.  Ryan was over there a few days ago shooting BB guns and then his shotgun on the property, and the neighbor got a little nervous (even though the shot was not going anywhere near his property line.)  I think they got things smoothed over. This picture is from a few days ago when they were just starting to frame.  

Our Family

To fully view, simply drag image onto desktop, then double-click.

Our Hero Sierra

Sierra's 2nd grade class has been working really hard to collect food for the Idaho Food Bank.   When each child brought 30 items, her class earned a read-in, where they got to wear PJs and read all day.  News Channel 7came in and did a story on their class.  Watch for Sierra (she's wearing a white sweatshirt and has a hot pink reading pillow)! http://www.ktvb.com/video/?z=y&nvid=301855

The food drive has been expanded to include the entire school.  If you would like to help their efforts, you can make cash donations at www.chrisconant.com-click the "Chip In" link on the right hand side.  

Halloween

Another year of trick-or-treating has come and gone.  This year I took the girls around and Ryan stayed home to pass out treats to the neighbors.  Usually I stay home and he goes with the kids.   The weather was great-warm enough to only need a bit of a jacket, so there were lots of kids of all ages out and about.   Anya was a fairy princess.  Sierra was Elizabeth Swann from Pirates of the Caribbean (although she hasn't seen any of the movies and mostly just thought the costume was pretty).  Emma was a Southern Belle (think Scarlett O'Hara).   Lexi and her friend Madeline were Thing One and Thing Two.  Christa went with two of her friends as a fork, knife and spoon.  She was the knife.  I didn't get her picture.  

Baptism

On Saturday Sierra was baptized and confirmed a member of our church. We had lots of family who were able to come over--thanks for coming, family and friends! There were 7 other children in the stake also being baptized. Our girls sang  My Heavenly Father Loves Me, arranged by Christa,  in the program.  We are so pleased that Sierra has chosen to follow the example of Jesus Christ and to be baptized  a  member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and that she will now have the gift of the Holy Ghost.  

Four walls

The basement walls have been poured and tarred for the house. Next step is to backfill this area then start digging the crawl space for the foundation for the rest of the main floor. Ryan spent most of the night putting foam insulation around the cement walls so that the basement stays that much more warm and dry.

Happy Birthday to Emma!

The 29th was Emma's 10th birthday. So exciting to be double digits! She had a family birthday this year. Her favorite gift she received was several rolls of duct tape in all different colors. She is excited to make all sorts of crafty things from duct tape. A few things we love about Emma:
--She is incredibly sensitive to what is going on around her.
--She is very observant and often knows where a missing item is located.
--She loves to sing.
--She is taking piano lessons and is almost caught up with Lexi.
--She is quite photogenic.
--She is meticulous about any project she is working on-very detail oriented.
--Her best subject at school is probably spelling, but she does well in all of her subjects.
Thanks for being such a sweet big sister and little sister, Emma. We love you!

What else is going on . . .

Besides birthdays and volleyball, this weekend was a busy one. Christa also had a district choir and orchestra concert, which was fun. She enjoyed participating with the kids from other schools, some of whom are her friends from the Math and Science Center. On Saturday there was a Regional Young Women's Conference, with Sister Mary Cook, 2nd counselor in the general YW presidency as the featured speaker. I was able to go for most of the day with Christa, and it was really uplifting. (I can't remember if I posted that I was recently called to work with the Beehives in our ward). On Thursday night this past week, Emma and Lexi had a Talent Show for their Primary Activity and Lexi played a cello-violin duet with her friend Ana and Emma showed some of her woodworking, which she likes to do with Ryan. Paisley climbed all the way up the stairs all by herself the other day. I was working on the computer downstairs and didn't even realize she was on the stairs, until I came out and couldn't find her where I had left her, and instead found her up in the playroom. I guess it's time to teach her to do down backwards. Today was the Children's Sacrament meeting program--always a wonderful Sunday. There was a bit of panic at the start of the meeting when the microphone wasn't working, but through some miracle it was working by the time the children were ready for their presentation. All of the children did so well. Anya, being in the youngest class, was right in the front, and I don't think she held still for more than 2 seconds in the entire hour. She was so wiggly. She sang and said her little part at the microphone without a single bit of hesitation, but I felt sorry for her friend Piper who was sitting next to her. At one point they just about got into a wrestling match right there on the stand. We all have colds and the baby and Anya haven't been sleeping too well. Maybe we can get to bed early tonight and be ready to start all the craziness again tomorrow.

Blog Tag

Quinn, one of my great roommates my first year at BYU, now living in Germany with her cute family tagged me for this one. You have to pick the 4th picture from the 4th folder in your photos file. This is the one that came up for me. (Our entire digital camera libaray isn't on this computer, otherwise it would have been and older picture, but it was fun to look through them.)

This is Anya sitting on the landing going up the stairs, taken about 2 years ago. One of those silly, every day moments that somehow gets captured on camera. I tag Erin, Kara and Laura.

Birthday Girl!

Happy 8th Birthday to Sierra!  She had a great day, and a fun Pajama Party with 10 fun friends.  We did hair and nails and ate pizza and watched Freaky Friday, and everyone still went home to their own beds.  Sierra is excited to be baptized and be confirmed next month.  Some things we love about Sierra:  She loves to give and receive hugs and kisses.  She does everything with energy and enthusiasm.  She has really learned to love reading in the last few months, and always has her book.  She is doing well with piano and with her school work.  She loves to help take care of Paisley, and will change her diaper without being asked and without help.  She has a cute smile, even without most of her front teeth :)  Story about the T-shirt.  Sometimes Sierra's busy mind is elsewhere when someone is talking to her and you'll ask her a question and she will respond, "I have no idea what you are talking about."  The other day Ryan was watching his favorite show, Mythbusters, and one of the guys on the show had a T-shirt with that exact phrase on it.  Of course Ryan thought of Sierra and was able to find it for her just in time for the birthday party.

Volleyball Star!

This weekend was Christa's last volleyball game.  She played on the 8th grade JV squad all season, which officially ended on Monday, but the City Tournament was on Thursday and Friday and the 8th grade varsity coach asked if she would play with the varsity team for the Tournament.  She really has improved over the season, and has had a lot of fun playing.  She didn't actually get any play time in the tournament, and the team lost in the second round (of 8 teams), but it was great to wear the varsity jersey and be on the sidelines for the games.  

Hole in the Ground

After a year of talking and thinking and planning, we finally have a hole in the ground that is going to be a new house!   The girls like to run around the hole asking, "What is going to be here?"  It's on 10 acres just about a mile from where our house is now, so we get to go check on progress every day.  We are all very excited.  We'll keep you all updated.  

Disneyland

The girls had a couple of extra days off of school so we decided to head to Disneyland.  None of us had ever been before.  We went to Disney World about 5 1/2 years ago when we were still living in NYC.  Anya was the most excited of anyone.  She asked every day when she was going to meet Minnie.  She drew lots of pictures, and made everyone else draw pictures, of Minnie.  Everyone traveled well.  We stayed at the Marriott a couple of miles down the road from the Disney complex.  We wore ourselves out riding rides and meeting characters.  The first night the fireworks were canceled because it was somewhat overcast, but we got to see them the second night.  Anya wanted to visit Minnie each day.  I was surprised that she was more interested in Minnie Mouse than the Princesses, although we did see them as well.  California Adventure was also great.  We all loved the California Screamin roller coaster.  Christa, Lexi, Emma and Ryan did the Tower of Terror.  It lived up to it's name for Emma.  The others went back, but she hated it.  Sierra really liked the roller coasters and was pretty adventurous in trying new rides.  Anya liked anything that didn't go in the dark.  Paisley was pretty good in her Baby Bjorn and stroller.  On the ride back to the airport, our shuttle driver started asking us about religion and we were able to tell him about our living prophet on earth.  He was pretty fascinated by that concept.  We left him with a Book of Mormon that Christa had brought along, as well as our email address.   

Election 08

I heard this great article read on a talk radio program this week.  It's written by James Dobson, of Focus on the Family.  I think he sums up our thoughts on the issues in play.  http://www.citizenlink.org/pdfs/2008-10-c4newsletter.pdf

What have I done with the day?

Sometimes I get to the end of the day and can't figure out what on earth I have done with the last 12 hours--why does my house still look messy and I still have a to do list a mile long? Here is just one reason I can't seem to get much done.
 

This little person has become very mobile.  In this case, someone left the pantry open while preparing lunch, and she decided to go exploring there.  Everything goes straight to her mouth.  She especially likes to crumble, tear, and eat paper.  This afternoon she found some cheese and ham crackers that Anya left on her little chair, and Paisley gagged on them, and threw up all over Ryan's office floor. She pulls up to things, so it's not just ground level that we have to keep an eye on. I'll have to teach the other girls to help me out with Paisley patrol.  She may just be our early walker at the rate she's going.

Look Who's 4!!

On Sunday we celebrated Anya's 4th birthday.  Her actual birthday was on Monday, but Ryan had to leave for a meeting in Chicago on Monday.  As noted in an earlier post, she has been obsessed with the American Girl, Kit, so she was excited to finally get Kit.  She loved her Barbie cake.  It's a good thing 4 year olds aren't too particular about the details-maybe someday I'll take a class and get some pointers on cake decorating.  Sometime around each girl's birthday we take them out for a special dinner date with just mom and dad.  We are looking forward to Burger King play place with Anya.  

Some things that make our 4 year old special--

She loves to color and do workbooks and is very careful with her coloring and crafts.  She amazed us with her skill at drawing a smiley face a few weeks ago in her church class, and can write most of her alphabet letters.

She is a real snuggle bug and loves to have someone snuggle with her at bedtime.

She has a great vocabulary and uses words that aren't common in preschool conversation.  

She likes to help take care of Paisley and brings her toys and gives her treats and picks her up.  

She is quick to forgive parents or siblings or friends who may hurt her feelings.   Everyone is her "best friend."  If you do something nice for Anya, she often says, "You're my best friend, you can come to my birthday."  If she doesn't like something someone says or does, she says, "You can't come to my birthday!"  

She is growing so much.  We love our Anya!

Harvest Season

One of the things I love about this time of year is seeing how our garden has grown. I have to give credit to Ryan for this one. He loves to plant things and watch them grow, and is always anxious to get seeds and seedlings in the ground in the spring. He also makes sure our garden gets watered, and he does most of the harvesting, and even cooks much of what he harvests. I just get to eat the good stuff. This year has been our most successful Idaho garden. We have had more squash and zucchine than we and our neighbors can eat, quite a few tomatoes, some beans and peas, cabbage, lots of herbs, a couple of apples and a couple of nectarines, and we even got a few ears of sweet corn, which we had tonight with dinner and it was delicious. We have several pumpkins growing that may actually be big enough to carve into jack-o-laterns or make into pumpkin pie in another 6 weeks. Very exciting.

I Didn't Plan to Be A Witch . . .

This is the title of another quick book I just finished, and one of my favorite books on motherhood. It's not so much a parenting book as it is a mothering book. It really reinforces our role and our worth as mothers, and reminds me that I'm pretty normal, even in my witchy moments. I laugh and I cry and I come away from each chapter reminding myself that I can be better, or at least pull out my witch hat a little less often. I read this about 5 years ago, and just pulled it off my bookshelf to loan to a friend and flipped through and ended up reading the whole thing again. Completely different things impress me based on my kids ages and stages now, compared to the last time. It's by Linda Eyre, one of my true Mom heros.

Junior High-by Christa

Just as a warning to all of you who are reading this, this is Christa writing this, not Kelli (Mom). 

So, as you may know, I "officially" started junior high this year. I am in 8th grade, but last year I homeschooled and went to the Treasure Valley Math and Science Center (TVMSC), where they teach advanced math and science classes. I am still at the math and science center this year as well. In the morning is when I have TVMSC. I take Accelerated Biology 9, Accelerated Algebra 2, and Statistics there. (For the second semester I will be taking Applied Research 1 instead of Statistics.) After TVMSC, then I go to my fourth period PE class at the junior high. (Second semester I will be taking health instead.) 5th period is lunch, after which I take Accelerated English 8. Then I have chamber choir (Esprit de Corps), which is the school's auditioned choir. Finally, I have world studies for 8th period. I like most of my teachers, especially my world studies teacher because she is really funny. My biology teacher seems to be a little strict and teaches more like a college professor would (at least my friends and I think so), but I think I will get a lot out of that class this year. I have several of my friends in my classes at TVMSC, and a few friends in all my other classes. But because I am taking so many advanced classes, I tend to have a bit more homework than most other students at the junior high.

In terms of extracurricular activities, I was planning on keeping this year a bit less busy, but I ended up with no such luck. I decided to do volleyball this year, and I was not expecting it to be so intense and rigorous. Practice lasts for an hour and a half after school every day unless it's a game day (our first game is on Monday!). I just stay after school working on my homework and practicing piano until volleyball starts. Despite the intensity, I still love the sport and am having tons of fun with it. But that is not all...  I am also involved in the school orchestra. Last year because I was homeschooling, I could come once a week and practice with the orchestra. The director loved having me in the orchestra a lot, but I really didn't want to take orchestra for my elective because I wanted to "expand my horizons". However, I got roped into the orchestra, so my friend and I are coming after school on Thursdays to practice the orchestra material with the conductor. So between orchestra and choir, we have many many performances in the school year. I will have to skip quite a few days of school to be with choir and orchestra at all their rehearsals and performances. In the spring especially, there are several days when I have to stay after school for two or three hours. On top of all this, I still am taking piano and violin lessons, along with attending Mutual every Wednesday and accepting the responsibilities that come with having five younger sisters. I am very grateful for Mom, the chauffeur of most of my crazy activities. I honestly don't know how I have time to even sleep!  I have little time for hanging out with friends, and almost no time to relax, except for on Sunday. Nevertheless, I am starting the school year off well (despite my annoying head cold that came about because of a sudden temperature drop) and I think this will be a great year for me. 

Election '08

We have spent a lot of time this week listening to speeches and to reaction to speeches on talk radio.  We have really been impressed with Sarah Palin as McCain's choice for VP candidate.  First of all, she is from Alaska and you know Ryan immediately loves any connection to his favorite place in the world.  While a Republican, she seems to be first a conservative, and will stand up to the Republican establishment when she needs to.  She has a great grasp on energy policy, which will be a huge issue in the next administration, because Alaska has so many energy resources.  She is the most connected to the real American experience of anyone in the election, or of any recent elections.   She is pro-life and pro-family and believes in less government involvement in our day to day lives.  She has really added some life and energy to McCain's campaign, and has reassured the conservative base that they are being represented.  We also followed the Democratic convention, and I just can't get excited about Obama.  While he is all for change, which would be a good thing, I'm not sure higher taxes and more government programs will solve any of our current problems.  It will be an interesting couple of months.  

John Adams

Our neighborhood book club voted to read David McCullough's biography, John Adams, over the summer.  While by no means a quick or light read, I have really enjoyed this book.  There are no monuments to him, like Washington and Jefferson, who were the President's before and after Adams, but he was one of the most dedicated statesmen of his time.   He was truly committed to the cause of American independence and endured considerable personal hardship in the name of liberty.  I was particularly struck by "The more things change, the more they stay the same"  as I read of the divisions within the country regarding socio-political issues, such as slavery.  We have different issues these days, but the same divisions remain.  Also regarding the role of the media in the political scene-has journalism ever really been unbiased.  It seems from the time of print, newspapers and pamphlets have been published more of a means of furthering one cause or another as opposed to just sharing facts.  The argument continues:  What is the role of government?  What do we as people expect from our government?  Then, as now, we see those who would like to have a larger, central government with more authority, and also those who believe the government should be more minimalist and allow for more individual choices.  One thing that really impressed me about Adams was his absolute integrity.  He always acted consistently with his beliefs, which we do not always find in politicians, then or now.  The book also gives a good view of Abigail, who was an amazing woman in her own right.   She endured years of separation and managed the household without her husband for a good portion of their married life.  Very impressive.  (Another good book I read a few years ago relating to this time period is Founding Mothers, by Cokie Roberts.)  Highly recommended reading for anyone who would like a glimpse into one of our nation's first and dearest champions and the Revolutionary time period.     

Milestones

The Charter school and preschool started this week, so 4 of the girls are back in school. This afternoon as they were gone I was so enjoying the quiet that I hardly knew what to do with my time. I always get a bit choked up the first day of school, even the 9th time around. It's one of those markers of time passing, and a reminder that life won't always be the same as it is right now, for better or for worse. And even on the hard days I know there will come a day when I'll miss all the chaos at least a little bit. Anyway, the girls were pretty excited to get back in class. Anya has good friends in her preschool class, and it's right here in the neighborhood, so it's really convenient for me. Sierra has all of her favorite friends in her class this year, and an awesome teacher, Mrs. Brooks. Emma seems to like her teacher, Mrs. Swanson, so far and she hasn't had homework yet, so that has eased her transition. Lexi is in the middle school, so she gets a locker and changes classes and everything. Next week she starts at the Treasure Valley Math and Science Center, which is a regional program for more advanced math and science classes, which will be a great experience for her. Christa starts next week as well, continuing at the Math and Science Center and then at Riverglen JHS for the rest of the day. I'll have an official Junior High student-Yikes!   

Other recent milestones:  Paisley's 3rd tooth broke through, and #4 should be there any day. She is crawling all over the place and sitting herself up really well, eating baby food, and will not hold still for diaper changes.  Anya has mastered keeping herself dry at night and earned a Toucan Webkinz for her efforts.  Sierra lost another bottom tooth, that makes 6 baby teeth gone.   Emma had her first stitches this very evening.  She cut the bottom of her foot on the lid from a can that was in a garbage bag that was waiting by the door to go out to the garbage can.  She stepped on the corner of the bag just wrong and the lid sliced right into her poor foot.  She screamed and cried, but we just laid her down on the rug in the foyer and Ryan stitched her up right there.  Many thanks to my dear neighbor, Tina who happened to have come up to get something from our house right before it happened, and who took the three younger girls down the street to play for a few minutes while we took care of Emma.  

Twin Falls Temple

On Thursday afternoon we all piled in the suburban and headed over to Twin Falls to catch the temple open house. It is such a great opportunity for the girls to be in the temple and feel the Spirit there. Anya said, "Does the Holy Ghost live in the temple?" I was impressed that she would recognize that feeling and make that connection herself. It's a beautiful building and in many ways reminds me of the St. Paul temple, which was built when we were living in Minnesota and we were involved in the open house and dedication of that building. I was sure to point out the Bride's dressing room to the girls and remind them that when they are married, the temple is where they want to be. It's neat to see how they tie in the location with the building--the syringa throughout the glass, the mural of south central Idaho landmarks, and the waterfalls used in the landscaping. Next week we will be able to take some of the girls to the dedication broadcast.

Joshua Bell

Yesterday we (Kelli, Ryan, Christa, Lexi, Paisley and my sister Cindy) took a quick trip over to Sun Valley for the final concert of the Sun Valley Summer Symphony featuring one of the world's most amazing violinists, Joshua Bell. We were so fortunate to end up seated in the 5th row with a fantastic view. Of course he sounds incredible. It was also mesmerizing to watch him play, completely absorbed in the music. After the concert, he was signing autographs, so we were able to shake his hand and he signed CDs for the girls. He seemed like such a genuinely nice person, just a regular sort of guy who just happens to play the violin better than almost anyone else on earth. Very memorable experience.
Links to check out: www.svsummersymphony.org and www. joshuabell.com

Meet Kit

Anya is currently obsessed with Kit Kittredge, the American Girl. I think it started with a mini Kit doll that a friend had. Anya was at her house and played with it about 4 months ago. She has talked about Kit ever since. One day she went around the house calling all the girls to a family meeting in the front room. When everyone was there, Anya said, "Now, let's have a family talk. We need to talk about American Girls. I really love Kit . . . ." When the Kit movie came out, of course we went to see it with all the girls, which just added fuel to the fire. We tried to get her interested in one of the other dolls--there's a cute one named Elizabeth Cole (Elizabeth is Anya's middle name so it would have been perfect), but she doesn't like Elizabeth, only Kit. The only thing she wants for her birthday next month is a Kit doll. A couple of weeks ago she decided she wanted her hair cut and every day she asked, "When can I get my hair cut like Kit's?" So I acquiesced on that point, too. I thought Ryan was going to cry when she came home, but it's cute.

Welcome back to TV

After not having TV for about 2 years, we decided that we wanted to be able to watch the Olympics, and various other programming that Ryan misses. There were two unsuccessful attempts at installation, but finally today they got it hooked up. My main stipulation with the re-installation was that we have a DVR so that we can see the shows we want without having to watch them right when they are airing. (I never was very good at recording shows and playing back with the old VCR method.) This way we can still keep rules like not having TV on school nights, but still watch some shows we want to see on the weekends, or after the kids are in bed. Also, I like the idea that we can fast forward through commercials. I hate it when we are watching a good program, or sports, or whatever, but then some trashy commercial comes on unexpectedly. The DVR seems pretty easy to use, so I think this will be a good solution. Yeah for the Olympics!

Camping

This weekend we went camping on Lake Cascade at Rainbow Point with some good friends, the Woodards. They rented a motorboat on Friday and the kids had a great time tubing and speeding around the lake. We did flood the engine at one point, and had to paddle back to shore, but that just made it all the more memorable. Saturday morning we woke up to thunder and lightening and rain, but it passed fairly quickly and we were able to eat breakfast and break camp without getting too wet, and then we went up to Tamarack Resort for a little hike, I had never been there before, and it really is a pretty setting. It will be an amazing resort if they can ever get the money to finish the planned construction. All of the girls are pretty happy campers, and even Paisley did well (until the car ride home, anyway.)

Family Togetherness

Last weekend we did a whirlwind trip to Pocatello to drop off my neice who had been visiting for the week, then down to Utah to see Grandma and Grandpa Cole, then my mom's family reunion in Morgan, then back to Pocatello, then over to Rupert for my sister's baby's blessing, then back to Boise. We really enjoyed having Alyssa here for a few days with the girls, and wish we could see her more often. Thanks for letting her come, Lori! The girls always enjoy a trip to Grandma Cole's house and love playing with all the dolls she keeps around. I love going out to Morgan to my Grandparent's place. In all the moving around my family did growing up, it was the one constant. I don't know many of my cousins very well--there are 76 grandchildren, and over 100 great-grandchildren now--so it was good to re-connect with some of them, as well as my aunts and uncles who were there. It was my grandpa Noyes' 88th birthday, and you never know how much longer he'll hang on. He's always so glad to see us and always reminds us that the gospel is true and that he loves us. It was good to be there on Sunday for Erin's baby's blessing. Jack sure is growing quickly. It's neat to see her as a mom. She's such a natural. I love being close enough to family that we can be involved in these events.

Why can't we all just get along?

Today my girls seemed to be at each other all day long. She won't play with me . . . she touched me . . . she said this . . . she's being mean to me . . . it's her turn to do that job . . . I wanted to sit in the special chair . . . . I am trying to figure out how to teach my children to love and serve one another, and to keep from being the referee in every little squabble. It made me wonder how God feels about how His children get along with each other, and how He has managed to watch us all fight with each other over centuries and centuries, in little ways and in big huge ways. It started early in the history of the world, with Cain and Abel. Human beings just don't get along with each other very well. I guess God doesn't referee our fights very often. Most often he lets the battle just run it's course. Maybe He weighs in on the side of the good, if there is one, in some cases when He needs to. So what does this mean for me as a mother with my 6 warring nations battling over borders and commerce, and words? My job is to teach by being an example of love and service (which is not always easy, since I, unlike God, am not perfect, and am subject to the same human temptations and frustrations that my children express) and to pray for the best, I suppose. It's interesting to think about how our microcosm of parenting relates to the whole big picture of humankind. My deep thoughts for this way too late hour.

A week in the life

We were actually at home this whole week. Well, at home is a relative term. We didn't travel by plane or car outside of Boise, anyway. Lexi, Emma, and Sierra had a YMCA sports camp every day from 9-1. They got to go swimming and rock climbing played all sorts of fun games, and they could walk down to the school for it, which was even nicer for me. Anya had Sleeping Beauty ballet camp in the mornings, which she loved. She goes to a studio right here in our neighborhood, which is so convenient. I thought I would get tons done with everyone gone in the morning, but of course Paisley is plenty time consuming herself. We had violin lessons, and group violin and a meeting about next year's Suzuki institute, and I went to lunch with a friend. I did get through a stack of paperwork, so I feel good about that for a week. Paisley has been a bit more fussy lately, with 4 top teeth on their way through. She drools constantly and chews on everything. She also really figured out how to army crawl this week. If she sees something she wants, she can get to it pretty quickly. It won't be long before she's on all fours. She can sit for a minute or two without any help, but still tips pretty easily. I started her on rice cereal, which she seems to like. I talked to a couple of my sisters and they told me about different projects they are working on and it really made me want to do some sort of crafty project. I always enjoy working on something that gives a sense of accomplishment and completion. Housework doesn't qualify, because that is never ending. I do need to start thinking about a dress for Sierra's baptism. Maybe I'll actually start on that sooner than the week before.

Bedtime Battles

You know what, I HATE bedtime! Not my own of course, I'm always happy to go to bed, but my children's. This is one of my greatest challenges as a mother, and it always has been. It's when I'm most prone to morph into the wicked witch. Summer time is even worse because it stays light so late here, and because we don't have any real routine or reason to be up early in the morning, so it's even harder to convince the kids they really do need to go to bed. From the time I say, "It's time to start getting ready for bed" the girls start finding ways to stall--we forgot to feed the pets, I need a drink, I'm starving, I didn't practice the piano, I just want to finish this movie, etc, etc. We try to have family prayer and scripture time, but mostly I feel like I'm just reading outloud to myself. I get frustrated because I know they need their sleep or they will be extra grumpy the next day, and they are not always cooperative with doing what needs to be done to get in their beds at a reasonable hour. But I can't keep them moving along and make sure everyone's teeth get brushed and dirty clothes get picked up at the same time I am trying to read to Anya and nurse Paisley so that she settles down for the night, and also get scripture time and prayers all in there. I have got to figure out some way to change the routine so that my kids don't go t bed every night thinking I am the meanest mother on the planet.

Victoria

Ryan, Sierra, Paisley and I just returned from a conference in Victoria, British Columbia. I had never been to Canada before except for a brief sojourn across the border a couple of years ago when we were in Northern Idaho and went to a little town just across the border and had ice cream and left. Since we were crossing the border by sea and not by plane, we just needed to have ID and birth certificates. We are trying to give each of the girls a chance to travel with Mom and/or Dad alone, to have a little one-on-one time and decided that it was Sierra's turn to go with us. The day before we left I was getting Sierra's birth certificate from my safe birth certificate storage place and found every other child's EXCEPT Sierra's. I prayed, I searched, I looked in the same spot at least 12 times, and the other places I possibly thought it could be another 3 times each, and prayed some more. I could not find it anywhere. I thought the school had one on file and found someone in the office, luckily for summer break, and we found that there was not one there for her either. We took her social security card with us and decided to just give it a go. Our prayers were answered, not by finding her certificate, but by getting back and forth across the border with no problems at all. We flew to Seattle then took the Vicortia Clipper across to Victoria (about 2 1/2 hours by boat). My sister, Shari, met us in Seattle and went with us. It was so fun to have her along, since we really haven't had much of a chance to spend time with her in a long while, other than brief visits when the whole gang in together. (Her blog, Songsty's Place-see link at right, has her perspective of the trip and some great pictures.) While there we strolled through the Empress Hotel right on the waterfront (where the conference was held), ate some delicious food (seafood, gelatos, french pasteries), visited the Victoria Bug Zoo (Sierra held an 8 inch African millipede), saw Miniature World, petted goates at Beacon Hill Children's Petting Zoo, toured Butchart Gardens, took a horse drawn carriage ride, dined at Hatley Castle, played in the hotel pool, and walked through lots of fun touristy shops. We stayed at the Marriott just behind the Empress. The highlight for me was Butchart Gardens. It was so beautiful. I would love to have at least a portion of our yard looking a bit like that. Of course I don't have a $20 million annual budget and a full time staff of 600, but we'll see what we can do. Sierra seemed to have a fun time and Paisley was great (other than the time she pooped all down her pant leg.) She was carried around in the Baby Bjorn by Ryan a good part of the time, and everywhere we went people asked her name or how old she was or otherwise oohed and aahed. Babies are the best networking tool there is and we'll have to credit her college savings account for commissions for the new accounts her Daddy picks up as a result of her cute smiles at the meeting. I think they modeled the Energizer Bunny after Sierra - she really does keep going and going and going. Our flight home was delayed by about an hour and a half due to a mechanical issue, and we didn't get in until near midnight, and still Sierra was going strong. Besides being a neat place, Ryan got a few hours of CME and maybe picked up a new client or two, so it was good for all of us.

Alaska

We returned on the 4th of July from a week Alaska. . . It's an amazing place. If you know the view of the Tetons from Jenny Lake, or standing at Redfish and looking up at the Sawtooths. Imagine that for hundreds and hundreds of miles around. We got pretty close to a couple of glaciers and lots of icebergs. We had porpoises running along with our boat. We saw sea lions and seals and sea otters and whales breaching and playing and a little black bear on shore. There are waterfalls and eagles soaring everywhere you look. The fishing wasn't as great as it could have been but we still came home with plenty of fish, mostly halibut, and Sierra's pole landed a good sized King Salmon. We also caught quite a bit of rockfish, of which there are many varieties. All of the girls had a great time fishing. Christa pulled up a 75 lb halibut herself. (The boat captain helped her actually get it into the boat with the gaffing hook, but she reeled it in without help.) There was one morning that was a bit choppy and some of us felt a little queezy, but otherwise there was no real sea-sickness. Put it on your list of things to do before you die.

Family Reunion

Last weekend (June 13-14) my family got together at Lake Walcott state park, near Rupert, for a family reunion. It was so fun. I took my girls and went a day earlier than Ryan because Teri was here from Wyoming and we just don't get to spend enough time together. Everyone in the family was there except for JD, who is off being the voice of the Army these days. We camped and ate and fished and played games and had water fights. It's great to have a family where everyone really makes an effort to be together. We love spending time with each other. Sure we have differences of opinion, and we all have our idiosyncracies that drive everyone else crazy, but generally we love each other and get along pretty well. Some of visited Albion, which is a little town not far from the Utah border where the Phippens lived for quite some time--my dad's father, grandparents and great-grandparents. It was neat to see the valley where they lived and farmed and died. Also in Albion is the Teacher's college that my mom's mom attended. I love experiencing places that we read and hear about because it all of a sudden becomes real. It's a pretty little valley. Over the last 6 months I have been more involved in family history research and I really enjoy that. I love understanding their lives and learning from the faith and courage of our ancestors. My girls also enjoy hearing the family stories. A couple days after we got home, we were driving around in the car and Anya said to me, "Tell me a story about your grandpa that died." It's a great legacy to pass on. I'll post a slide show when I get to Ryan's computer where all the pictures are downloaded.

Joseph Smith The Prophet

Christa and Ryan and my sister Cindy had the opportunity to participate in a cantata that the Boise Institute put on this past weekend in honor of Joseph Smith, our first latter-day prophet. Christa and Ryan played in the orchestra (Christa on the violin, the youngest member of the orchestra, Ryan on trumpet and guitar, and one of the older members of the orchestra), which was open to all ages, and Cindy sang in the choir, which was just college age kids. They performed in the Morrison Center at BSU, which is a great performance hall, and it turned out really well. The composer, Rob Gardner, came up from Phoenix and conducted the performance, which added to the energy of the whole performance. He composed the piece when he was just 23. Pretty amazing. Basically it tells the story of Joseph's life, of the First vision, and the early history of the church, including the persecutions in Kirtland and Missouri, and the martyrdom. There were some gorgeous solos and a good deal of narration, and the music reflects the mood of the story beautifully. It was all very powerful. If you have access to BYU-TV, a performance of the work with a group from Salt Lake will be aired this Friday, June 27, in commemoration of the prophet's martyrdom. Check out the webiste at www.josephsmiththeprophet.com. Good stuff. For me, things like this allow me to feel the spirit which reconfirms the truth of what I already know.

Paisley

Paisley is our newest addition to the sorority. She was born February 2, 2008 and weighed in at 8 lbs 5 oz, an was 21 inches long. At her 4 month visit last week she was up to 13 lbs (33 %ile) and 26 inches (86 %ile). She cut her first bottom tooth about 10 days ago, and its' neighbor poked through just today. I hardly even knew they were coming--she wasn't even fussy about it. She has been chewing on everything she can get her little hands on, however. She has been a great sleeper from early on and generally sleeps 8-10 hours a night, from at least 10 pm to 6 am, then she usually goes right back to sleep for a couple more hours. She smiles and laughs and can roll over both ways. She has discovered her voice and is prone to squealing when she wants some attention. She likes to be carried around on my front in the Baby Bjorn pack. She doesn't really love being in her carseat, which, unfortunately for her, she is quite a bit while we run the other girls to their various activities. She is a sweet baby and we're glad to have her in our family. Love to Paisley.

Anya

Anya is our little princess. Her favorite color is pink and she really likes to look "stylish." She loves accessorizing--headbands, jewelry, nailpolish, a purse, cute shoes . . . She is a girl all the way. She is 3 1/2 and loved preschool and her dance class this past year. She is always asking "What are we doing tomorrow?" and wants to make sure appropriate play dates are planned. She is very dramatic in her expressions and she keeps all of us laughing. She just started violin lessons, with Christa as her at-home teacher. She will talk to herself making up all kinds of stories and often says "Listen to me tell about my dream" whenever she has a story or memory to share. We love our Anya!

Sierra

Sierra is energy-plus. Everything she does, she does with gusto. She also loves school, many thanks to teachers who have been so good for her. She is the family hug-bug and loves to give and receive lots of hugs and squeezes from family and friends, and anyone who will stand still long enough for her to squeeze. Sierra has always been a night-owl, from the time she was tiny. Getting her to unwind and go to sleep takes awhile, then trying to get her awake in the morning is also a challenge. Sierra loves to play board games and card games and her Webkinz. She also likes sports and playing outside and will take on anyone in a round of Chinese Jumprope. Her constant energy makes her a bit more accident prone and she usually is sporting a Band-Aid or two. She inherited her mom's astigmatism in addition to a bit of a lazy eye and has been wearing glasses for a couple of years now. She is the family zoo-keeper--the bunnies (Flopsy and Mopsy) and the toads (Bumpy and Jumpy) are her personal pets and she loves playing with the kittens (Whiskers and Dusty) and Jack (our yellow lab.) We love our Sierr-Bear.