Happy Boy

Dear Mr T,

I love your zest for life. You are a happy boy. That's not to say that you don't have your ornery moments. Sometimes I wonder if you are bipolar, and then I remember that you are just 3 years old. I think it's pretty normal. But for the most part, you are a happy boy. You get out of bed with a smile on your face, literally. You get really excited about small things, like using the soap in the bathroom that has Ninja Turtles on it. And wearing your new skeleton bones shirt. And finding a fat squiggly worm in the dirt. Your face just lights up with the most amazing smile while your twinkly eyes squint a little.
You are a funny boy too. You love to pretend that you are a ninja and will not respond if I call you by your name. I have to refer to you as Ninja. You had to remind me that Ninja's don't like mommy-kisses. Other times you are a Gummy Bear, since you love a song called Gummy  Bear. Gummy Bears don't get dressed, they walk around in their underwear like the music video. Gummy Bears do try to do yoga with me, but they don't like stretching.
You know what else makes you happy? Playing in the dirt. The other day we had new friends over. It had rained in the morning but after lunch it was beautiful outside. We were outside playing when I found you under the swings, deep in the mud. I had to run grab the camera before I stripped you and sprayed you off with the hose. I mean, really. Look:

I love you my happy boy,
Mom

On Being Average

Lulu,

This is a post I could easily write to any of my kids, as it doesn't necessarily apply only to girls. However, I know your personality and I know that you will struggle with this more than my boys. Share this post with your brothers when they may need it sometime down the road. But Lulu, you need it now, and I feel you will need a refresher in it as often as I do.

So here it is. Listen. I believe I am just average in almost every facet of my life. I am average height, average build, average in looks, average income, and average in most of my talents. I know that I don't stand out. I sometimes feel like I am just riding this wave of humanity, easily lost and forgotten.

Sometimes I see great things people accomplish and I try to do them just as well. I see the photos my cousin takes and I think, I could do that! And then I try and they don't compare. I mean, they're fine. They're average photos. They are better than some people's in my opinion, but not as good as my cousin's, or other photographers that I admire. I see a quilt my friend made and I think, I could sew! And then I spend a whole evening trying to make a little boy's tie, and finally go to bed with just a bunch of scraps of material in the garbage.  I wish I was really athletic and coordinated. I can only run a mile.  I want to be a great writer. My blog is average at best. I wish I could sing as well as my sister. I can carry a tune and sing in a choir. I have an average voice. I want to make beautiful cakes, and they usually turn out...you got it...average.

This can become disheartening if I don't stop and give myself this lecture.

Sometimes, average is ok.
I can't be amazing in every area. Think how tiring and impossible it would be!

I want to try hard, but not expect perfection. And I want to choose one or two areas where I feel I have potential to be above average, and focus my efforts there instead of spreading myself too thin. I think I was blessed with an artist's eye, and I want to focus my drive into painting. Even then, I know I will never stand out outside of my circle of influence. I can't tie up all of my energy there of course.  Life is always busy and mundane things need to be done. Plus my average activities and interests make my life rich and full!

I think there are three key things to remember here.

Number one. So you're average at something you love, do it anyway! You can still have fun and make your world more beautiful. Your success should only be measured against yourself. If some day I sew a little boy's tie then I will have accomplished something great!

The second key is to remember that average is in the eye of the beholder. In the eyes of certain people you are above average. To my husband my looks are above average. He thinks I am beautiful! And that's all that really matters! To my kids my efforts are far greater than just average. And most importantly, in the eyes of our Father in Heaven I am anything but average. He knows my potential and celebrates my individuality. We have eternity to improve and excel and learn.

And third... when you think about all the things you can do, average as they may be, be grateful. I am grateful to have a body that is healthy. I am grateful to have a mind that can learn. I am grateful that I can craft, and play the piano, and cook, and speak Spanish, and take pictures, and be a good friend. I may not be able to do any one of those things incredibly, but I can do them all!

This is a thought that I have chewed on for years but am just writing down now.

I want you to know Lulu that I can see your potential even when you cannot. You tell me that you are not good at the piano and that you don't want to even practice any more. You are only in book 1! I know that you CAN learn to play the hymns at church and to play music that makes you happy. You will not become a professional soccer player, but don't worry about it. Even if you are average at sports, they can still be fun and you still get exercise! You may think you are average in looks, but to me you are way above average. You are beautiful, and I am sure that throughout your life not everyone will agree with me, but many will. Focus your energy on finding your passion and talent, but not all of it!

It all boils down to this catch-22. Average is fine, but don't be content with mediocrity.

Love you my amazing girl,
Mom

Baby's 1st Hair Cut

Dear Baby,

Your hair was starting to get really long. After we got you out of the tub, your clean dry hair would curl up over your ears. I loved the long piece of hair right in the back. I think I loved it because it has been there since you were born. That dark silky piece never fell out.
Daddy's been saying for a few weeks now that it was time to cut your hair. I wasn't overly emotional about it, surprisingly. We just kept forgetting!
Well, this week when we were at the grocery store someone called you a girl. I knew it was really time for that hair cut.
So Saturday night, that's hair cutting time, I put you in the tub and started to wash your hair before I remembered that we really needed to cut your hair. So out of the tub you came, dried off, and into a diaper. I of course had to take some before pictures downstairs in our little rocking chair.
Then we hurried up to Dad who buzzed all the long baby locks off of your head. As they fell to the ground I thought "My goodness, he had a lot of hair for a baby!" And you were so good. You didn't cry at all! When it was over, you went back to the tub to get your hair washed again.
As I dried you off for the second time, I really checked you out. You look like a little boy now! And your hair looks pretty blonde. It definitely has some red in it, just like your brothers, but how much red depends on the lighting. The thing I really noticed though was how those big brown eyes steal all of the attention now. They are the star of the show! I think you are so handsome little buddy.
Love you my big baby,
Mom

Labor Day Weekend

My Buddies,

We had a great Labor Day long weekend. The fun started off with your first soccer games of this season.
Lulu, you and your team Green Lightening were first. It was amazing weather for soccer. It was overcast, breezy, cool, but it didn't rain on us!
Here you are in action, as an offense player:

and as goalie:

Lulu, you are fun to watch. When Dad yells at you to move, you start running, but you sort of run in place. So far you are a little too timid for soccer. If the ball is right in front of you then you will kick it. Otherwise you are glad to just run with the pack and let the aggressive girls do most of the scoring. You did pretty good as goalie though! You stopped a few goals! Maybe you will get more brave the more you practice though!

Hammer, you and your team the Red Ninjas played in the afternoon. It was sunny and hot by then. You ran with the kids:

and listened well to your coach. I can't count how many times you fell over though while you were playing. It is kind of hard to run when all the kids are in one tight cluster! You like it so far:

Saturday afternoon we drove down to Grandma's house for a little party.
You loved having pizza for dinner, playing with cousins and 2nd cousins, and playing with this water table:

Look, you also got to get up close to Grandpa's neighbors:

Then just before it was time to get our pj's on and come home, Grandpa broke out the slip n slide. Lulu, you loved it. You are really great at running and sliding on your knees all the way down. Check out this action shot of you running towards the slide:

You boys got into it for a little while, but then you started to get cold:

and Hammer, you got water in your eye. Nana thought your pirate face was too funny:

So we dried off, packed up, and drove home.
Sunday, after church, we packed up again and drove up to Grammie's house.  We had dinner with Rashelle and John and Grammie. You love it when your cousins are there to play with!
Kayleen wasn't there, but you enjoyed playing with her toys outside!
You two girlies were inseparable, and enjoyed making Baby laugh on the trampoline:

The younger kids also loved the sand box:

And then Hammer had his turn to play with Baby on the trampoline:

Here are Grammie and the two uncles enjoying the deck:

We slept over at Grammie's. Lulu and Baby slept inside with me, while Dad and the two boys had a camping sleepover in the backyard.  Hammer, you were so excited for this event! Unfortunately, Dad says you guys didn't sleep well out there. You woke up way too early too.
Baby got me up with the sun. We had breakfast:

and then everyone else got up too:

Just before lunch we packed up and drove to Aunt Rashelle's house:

We left Pluto at Rashelle's and all piled into her van to go to the bay:

You guys love playing in the sand:

It was colder than we expected. We didn't get too much swimming in:

but it was still fun.
After the bay we had lunch at Rashelle's house and then decided to go back home and clean up the house!  Mr T, you were completely out on the way home:

In fact, when I looked back, every single one of you were asleep! Even Pluto!  Lulu, you may have been faking, but you were at least resting.  Not enough sleep and lots of fun wore you guys right out.
So that was our fun weekend.  Thanks for sharing it with me!
Love you my party animals,
Mom

August Edition

Dear Kids,
Wow, August was busy! I have a ton of pictures on my phone plus a lot from the phones of Jen, Grandma, Grandpa, Dad, and even one from my friend!
Let's check them out.

Life lately, according to my phone:

We went to the Founder's Day celebration, and it was so fun. We got free balloons, otter pops, pop corn, jumpy houses, fishing pond, and rides on this little train. Mr T, you were too scared to ride by yourself, so Lulu was sweet and held you on her lap.

We had a lot of zucchini, so we tried this recipe for zucchini chocolate chip cookies and I loved them

Mr T, Grandma and Grandpa took you out for your birthday, just a little bit late. You really wanted fish so they treated you to the red lobster. You loved the lemonade, the fish and broccoli, and of course the ice cream dessert. 

Dad and I celebrated our anniversary by going to the SL temple. It was special since that's where we were married 11 years ago. Unlike 11 years ago though, it was rainy and almost cool! It felt great outside. 

After the session we walked around downtown and then went out for sushi and Japanese food.  Mmmm.

Lulu, you are finally playing with your Barbie house more

My summer mantle was finally finished

Baby, you love to be outside, but only want to swing for a few minutes usually

One night I took the 3 big kids over to the Farmer's Market near our house. We got some ice cream and you guys planted some seeds. It was fun watching them grow in the kitchen window.

Lulu and Mr T, you went to the Ogden Temple open house with Dad and Grammie. You had fun, and then you brought some pizza home for dinner for the rest of us that stayed home.

One Saturday Lulu and I met Aunt Jen at the Downtown Farmer's Market. It was the first time for all of us. We enjoyed the ambiance, the samples, and the interesting music, like this piano on a bike.

Lulu, you enjoyed a snow cone!

And then we shared some pizza. It was fun. 

After that we toured our first home in the Parade of Homes. It was pretty awesome.

It was in a nice neighborhood with big houses and fancy yards.

Then we met up with Grandma to see a lot more houses out closer to her. I loved this playhouse because of the roof and the window.

Lulu, you of course liked the Frozen mural in one of the play rooms.

Our favorite had the coolest master bathroom shower. The floor lit up! Lulu, you had to take a picture.

 Outside at that same house, there was a go cart/running path, trampoline, play ground, fire pit, garden, and waterfall. It was so pretty.

A few days later Grandma took all of us to see a few more houses.

Remember this playroom, that looked like a pirate ship up on the loft?

And there were real necklaces on the murals. It was ridiculously detailed and awesome.

After we saw a few homes, we went to Great Grandma's for a little visit. You boys were enjoying some popcorn outside

When we went inside, Mr T you found this chicken mask and kept saying "bok bok" and getting right in Great Grandma's face to peck her with your beak.

and you sat in Grandpa's lap while he read you stories.

We finished that busy day off with a family reunion at the park. Baby, you let Grandma play with you after we ate our sandwiches.

You guys used your last summer tickets and we got slurpees one day. Even Baby got one, so that I could drink most of his. :)

Soccer started! Hammer, you wear red and Lulu you wear dark green. Here's Hammer at his first practice. Lulu, you were running along with him at this point, trying to coach him a little.

Hi cute Baby

It rained a lot in August! Here was one day where it was actually sunny and hot. We played in the pool and had frozen strawberry lemonade

I was pretty proud of this chicken potpie I made one day for dinner when Dad was gone

We made parmesan bread crumb crusted zucchini sticks one day. I thought they were yummy!

Our tomatoes and peppers started producing finally!

Our crazy Pluto is still around

We went to the splash pad with your cousin while he was in town. That's always fun. We were lucky we chose to go this day that was warm and sunny since the rest of the week was full of crazy thunderstorms

Lulu, you were happy that one day we finally made this feather headband you'd been asking me for days to make with you. It turned out cute. 

Lulu, you went with me to a Relief Society garden party, that incidentally was rained out and held at the church. We tried to take a picture of ourselves before we left, and it was hard!

There we go.

Hammer and Baby got to go with me and Grandma and Grandpa to the Ogden temple open house. We had a really fun time. It was pretty!

Baby, you put a piece of pizza crust in your mouth and just kept it there because you knew I thought it was funny.

I had a little get together with some friends one stormy evening at Allie's house. Allie's not in the picture since she took it. These are some of my friends from high school. We had a great night chatting and eating treats.

We did a science experiment one Thinking Thursday. We filled two glasses with colored water and then put paper towels draped into an empty glass in the middle. The water "walked" up and into the middle cup until all 3 cups were equally filled, and the water was green. It was cool, huh?

I took a picture of you Baby on your last day before you were 1.

Daddy got a deer on his first archery hunt! He got home just in time for Baby's birthday party.

Here's your birthday cake I made you Baby!

Time to make salsa with the maters from our garden

The deer head. Dad decided to chop off his antlers and keep them.

See that giant pot in the fridge? It was full of ground deer meat. Daddy turned a lot of it into jerky.

Here are the antlers, drying in the sun on the basketball hoop

This was on the first day of school. The boys and I were outside waiting for the bus to bring Hammer home. Unforutnately, there weren't enough kids and they finally told me to come pick him up from the office where he'd been patiently waiting.

Hey Baby. You had your 1 year check up.  Everything looks good, you skinny little guy.

You were poked 5 times! You did such a good job that you got your first sucker. You loved it!

Look how much you drooled. It stained your chin blue! It was a good thing I was prepared with a burp rag to put under your seat belt.

We got these strange looking fruits in our Bountiful Basket. I finally figured out they were prickly pears from cactus!

We mixed them with the limes we got from our basket, with some water and sugar, to make a Prickly Pear Limeade. It was yummy!

Grandma took the cousins, and Uncle A, to see the play Charlotte's web. You had a great time.

Lulu, you took this cute pictures of the two buddies.

Phew! That was a lot of pictures! Did we stay busy or what? I love summer. I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of sad it's over. The September blues happen every year for me. But I do love the temperature outside these days. It is perfect! 

Love you lots!

Mom