catching up!

Has this been the longest I've gone without posting?  Thanks to "Influenza 2013" I'm feeling quite behind on things this month.  Here are some highlights:

Liv and I hit the library after dance class (three weeks ago).  I love that she picks very different books than my boys did/do.  A new favorite series that we've been reading are the "Bubba and Beau" books--she loves them and there isn't even anything about 'ballet' or 'pink' in them :)

It might appear that Liv is watching a movie or something in this next shot, but she got all set up like this for a family game of charades.  Ha!  

We've received LOTS of citrus this year.  Maybe someday we'll get some from our own trees, but for now we are thankful to friends for sharing:

Our family home evening a couple of weeks ago was about 'teaching' and Rob had each of the kids teach us about a member of our family and then we would ask questions.  Liv taught us all about Burke and it was quite dear and hilarious too.  I caught some photos of Rob helping her a bit and of her classic 'I'm thinking' face:

It warmed up into the high 70's and the younger kids decided it was time to start swimming.  So cold!  Liv didn't get in much past her legs, but sure enjoyed it anyway:

My two little goofs!:

This is Livvy playing dress up with her darling friend, Kinsley.  They are starting to play together so well and are so cute!

As I mentioned, I got hit with the nasty flu this year and was really sick for about two weeks.  I spent about a week and a half of it in bed (as much as possible, anyway).  I had a fever for several days and felt like every inch of my body was on fire, then it turned into bronchitis/sinus infection.  I was so bored, yet overwhelmed at everything I wasn't getting done.  This self portrait was on day 2 of fever, but before my nasty cold hit:

Pathetic Day 4 (I'm so dramatic!):

I was in charge of a Baptism Preview for all the kids turning eight and wanting to get baptized this year, and my friend Angie designed such a cute program and handout for me!

My dad and Helen got their mission call to serve in the New Jersey, Morristown mission.  They leave on March 4th (so soon!).  I am really excited and happy for them.  Congrats!

Tosh's school had a "Moustache Day" for part of school spirit week.  I think he looks rather great with a moustache, actually :)

Liv giving it a try:

Lady Liberty:

Hewitt finished this book report project and said, "This is epic!"

Liv got the flu after I did, but she didn't seem to be nearly as sick.

Even though Liv had a fever, it didn't slow her down much.  She still managed to climb up to get some scissors and give herself a haircut.  At least it wasn't as bad as the last time she cut her hair : 

Liv was *really* sad when I told her it was way too cold and she was too sick to go swimming.  Thank you, Bathtub!

My friend's dad came up with a great water storage system using 50 gallon barrels that we had him install in our small garage.  It feels good to have this done after talking about it for years!

The friend I carpool with informed me that there was a poster with Burke's picture on it at the corner of Frye and Dobson.  Liv and I drove by to check it out a day or two later, and I was surprised that it was just of Burke (thought there would be several kids in the photo).  Such a fun thing!  The district couldn't have picked a cuter kid or better student :)

 I sent the photo to Burke's teacher and he was excited and made a big deal about it, and challenged all of the fifth graders (three classes) to go and have their photo taken with this "superstar" and to bring the photos in.  We stopped by last night so Burke could see it and are told there are other posters around town as well.

Liv had school pictures on Thursday.  When I told her it was picture day, she got very animated/excited and said, "I've never had school picture day before!"  I think this picture makes my 'Liv's Top Ten' list, for sure:

My being sick really set me back on my running/training schedule.  I wasn't able to run for two weeks and my big race is two weeks from last Friday!  I finally got back to it this week (with a new pair of shoes) and am getting better at running without feeling like I am going to cough up a lung.

We have been involved in lots of training for our upcoming trek.  We got together with some of the other Ma's and Pa's last night to test out our dutch oven skills.  While I was hand-kneading and making my bread in the dutch oven yesterday afternoon my anxiety went from a '4' to about an '8,' but I felt much better when the bread turned out (now it's back down to a '3' maybe!).  I was snapping some photos in the dark and love Rob's expression here:

 It may not look pretty, but it tasted fine and I figure that the kids will be STARVING anyway!  :)

So Thursday marked one year since my Mom's passing.  This last month has been rough emotionally (especially while I was sick), but I had a good day on Thursday and felt really peaceful.  I decided to celebrate my mom's life with some of her favorite things including making her Frog Eye salad, working on a sewing project (made an apron for trek that I started and completed in just a couple of hours), and listening to some Barry Manilow!

We are learning the song, "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" in Primary this month and for some reason it really makes me cry and think about my mom.  But it's mostly a good cry because I am grateful for all of my blessings, and know that I'll get to be with my mom again someday.  I sure miss her now though.  What a spectacular woman, mother, and friend.  LOVE YOU and MISS YOU, MOM!!!

Mom on the cruise ship to Hawaii  in the early 60's

My wedding day 1999

In Franklin, ID  in 2008

February 2012 

livvy starts school!

Wow!  Lots of fun stuff to cover this week.  Here is what I remember, anyway.

Hewitt was in charge of Family Home Evening last Monday.  His lesson included these awesome "Super Heroes" he created: 

Are  you making a right choice?  Or a wrong choice?  This superhero will help you figure that out.   He will always make sure you choose the right.

 Ummm, free agency?  Lol.

Scripture Power makes sure you know whether you are reading the scriptures or not.  He teaches everybody about the gospel in the scriptures.

 There may come a time when you can't tell if you are reading the scriptures or watching a movie, let's say.  :)

Word of Wisdom is the superhero of anti-drugs, poison, smoking, and other bad stuff that could make you really sick.  Make sure you don't get into these things!

 Well said.

Anti-Killer is the super-hero of kindness and also makes sure everybody follows the 6th commandment.  "Thou shalt not kill."  

 This one is my favorite because it seems pretty original (!), he used the word "shalt" AND mostly because Hewitt knows that this is the sixth commandment.  Good memory.

Liv started preschool this week!  She goes for two hours just twice a week.  She was SO EXCITED to get to go to school like her brothers!  It is pretty liberating to have even just a couple of hours to myself.  It is certainly the beginning of a new chapter:  No babies or toddlers!  Crazy.

Here she is walking up to the school and inside the classroom.
She LOVED it!

After I dropped Liv off on Thursday, I ran to Tosh's school for a Kindergarten awards assembly (and then I went to Target by myself--it was wonderful!!!).  Tosh was cracking me up.  I love this shot with his arm around another boy (helping him find his mom, maybe?):

 
Tosh got the "reading" award for his class.  He really is an excellent reader (he goes to another class to meet with two other kids for his reading group because he is so far ahead of the other kids in his class.  That sounded braggy.  Sorry!).

Tosh was super obnoxious, woops, I mean energetic when he received his award from the principal.  Thankfully his teacher loves him and thinks he is hilarious (look at her laughing at him in this pic above!)

This is an awesome shot I got of Tosh when he was running/dancing back into his spot in line.  Such a ham!!!

Afternoon tea with "Lady Liv":

On Friday morning we were excited to discover a hot air balloon taking off right across the street!  

Liv started a ballet/tap class this week.  I don't know which one of us was more excited about it (me maybe?).  I think she looks so sweet here:

We had a little excitement on Friday night (Saturday morning, actually!).  Our smoke detectors in the entire house started going off at 3:45AM!  Rob was pretty out of it (funny side note).  We ran around making sure there wasn't smoke anywhere in the house, and were shocked that the kids weren't running out of their rooms.  In fact, it took about 5-7 minutes for any of them to even react!  Liv was the first one out of bed and Tosh cried a bit, but never really woke up (my deepest sleeper for sure!).  It took Burke a long time to wake up as well.  Anyway, after 15 minutes of trying to get it shut off, we called the non-emergency number for the fire department and they sent a truck over.  Those of you that have been here will know that there is a station right by our house.  The firefighters checked every room (I think this is what finally woke Burke up).  Turns out that the alarm in Burke's room had a red blinking light (now we know what to look for).  They cleaned it out (dust) and were loading back in their truck when the alarms all went off again and Rob chased them down.  They took the detector outside to clean out with a better machine, and that seemed to do the trick.  We will be cleaning all of them out soon.  This is happening a lot we hear, and I think it is because people are having to use their heaters since it is so cold!  It's blowing more dust around.

Rob answering the door at 4:00AM.  Couldn't resist snapping a shot:

On Saturday morning, Rob and Liv grabbed donuts at Bosa's while the boys worked on chores. Hewitt made an awesome "thank you" card and we all went over to the firehouse.

They were so awesome with the kids; they gave them stickers and hats and let them explore the truck!

The boys had soccer practices on Saturday, and I went running with my friend Alecia that afternoon.  We did 10.44 miles--my longest run ever!  Some days feel better than others, and I certainly wasn't feeling my best.  Maybe it was the 'up in the middle of the night for a long time' or something (ha!).  Everyone seemed very tired by Saturday night.  Our friends Fred and Char gave us a gift card to IHOP so we took the kids there for dinner.  I wasn't really feeling like eating breakfast food so I got a suggestion from the server about the best "dinner" food there.  I ended up getting steak tips with grilled mushrooms and onions with mashed potatoes, corn (lots of butter), and a side salad.  I was starving!!!  I must admit that I was shocked at how good my dinner tasted. The steak was sort of sweet and tasted wonderful.  Going to IHOP to order steak sounds so weird to me, but I may have to do it again.  The boys loved their food as well.  Hewitt ordered fish and broccoli and wanted seconds!  They kids are all asking to go back.  Who knew?

So I'm pretty sure I have mentioned that Rob and I are going on our Stake Pioneer Trek with the youth in March (during spring break).  All of the Ma's and Pa's were asked to put together a skit for a fireside on Sunday.  We were divided into three groups and our group was all the people going from our ward (a lot!).  It was fun to already know everyone in our group--all great and fun people. We were also supposed to be in full pioneer attire, so I spent Monday afternoon making an apron (thanks to my friend Brooke for helping me).

I tried to re-create the "Emma" type hairstyle I wore as a preforming missionary in Nauvoo (1996):

 This was such an AMAZING experience!  I should write about that sometime.

 Anyway, our skit ended up being pretty awesome.  It was a take off of an SNL skit (Immigrant's Tale).  We were all sitting around the campfire talking about our hopes and dreams for our posterity.  We all played different characters including the ancestors of Mitt Romney, Jimmer Fredette, Beyonce, our entire stake presidency, Steve Jobs, the Marriotts, etc.   We then busted into a parody of "Gangnam Style" which was very popular this year (complete with some original choreography, of course!).  I don't have the video yet (I can post that later maybe?),  but I thought you might enjoy hearing the song that Rob and I devoted quite a bit of energy to!   We are dorks!!!

 Our pool had a layer of ice on it this morning.  Brrrrr!

 Liv set the table for "a party" using all sorts of paper plates and plastic spoons.  She was so bummed when I finally said it was time to put it away.  She said, "But my friends haven't come to my party yet!?"  I love her sweet and funny faces.  I should also mention that she was singing an original song while she set the table.  The apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

 

ringing in 2013

Happy New Year!  I was ready for a new year. You?

Burke and Rob spent about 6 hours putting together a new ping pong table that the kids got for Christmas.  Over 200 screws!  

 The first couple of mornings after it was set up the kids would wake up and go straight to the garage to start playing...allowing Rob and me to sleep in.  I must confess that I have slept in until 10AM more than once this break!  Unheard of.  The kids are clearly growing up.

A friend of mine passed down a bunch of princess-type dress ups to Liv.  She loves being 'fancy' of course, and still changes clothes several times a day.  The other day she said, " Don't call me Liv anymore.  Call me Princess."

 Sure sounds like it's been cold everywhere this week.  Rob and I are becoming temperature wimps for sure.  We layer up like crazy, yet the cooler weather doesn't seem to phase the kids.  I had on four thick layers last Sunday evening and Tosh was running around without a shirt (typical).  What a nut!

We spent most of  last Sunday evening and Monday morning working on an old school candy wrapper puzzle together as a family.  I love that the kids are all at an age where we can do puzzles and play games (+ the sleeping in = living the dream!).

I could go for a frozen Charleston Chew right now!  

 We started the new year with haircuts for the boys (yippee).  We had never taken Tosh anywhere to get his hair cut before (We usually just buzz it in the spring, or I attempt to trim it--yikes).  Burke was the first to go and Tosh and Liv were very interested in watching.  This was taken just as the stylist was shaving up the back and so Burke's hair looks like a "Mom" cut here:

After the trims, we went to Target to let the kids spend their Christmas money from Grandpa Dunning and Grandma Helen.  Liv was SO excited to get this new outfit for her dance class that starts this week!  She was so cute at the check out using her own money :)

On New Year's Day we decided to grill, which we haven't done in a very long time, it seems.  I love me a loaded BBQ burger with lots of veggies including grilled pineapple.  YUMMM-ME!

Burke and I had fun messing around with the camera and a flashlight the other night.  We tried all different angles to make it look like he was holding an 'orb' of some sort.  I love it when Burke gets creative AND lets me take photos of him (bonus).

It was really great to have Rob home for several days during Christmas and New Year's.  The kids have really gotten into having Rob read to them from our "Berenstein Bear" collection lately.  He uses a different voice/accent for each character and the kids laugh and laugh while he reads.  I love this 2nd shot of Liv yawning...

Our friends Melanie and Dan were kind enough to invite us to go to a Suns/Jazz game with them on Friday night.  Dan's law firm has a box at the US Airways Center.  It was pretty sweet to park like 15 feet from the door and get to watch the game while visiting and eating lots of great (and free!) food.  Such a fun night!

Saturday morning was cold (32 degrees), yet I got out of bed early and went for a 6 mile run.  Then I waited until about 4:45pm and then did 4 more miles. The later run was much warmer, but my knees and feet were feeling it a bit.   I'm feeling pretty excited about this upcoming race.  I still don't consider myself  a "runner," yet I am finally starting to think, "I love this" while I am doing it instead of just after I am finished.  Progress.  I'll take it.

So when I got home from my morning run, I discovered Rob and the boys rearranging bedrooms.  New year, new changes.  Burke is now in his room by himself with all of the Legos.  Burke is our neatest kid and I am hoping that this might help our Legos to stay off of the floor!  This project (moving beds and furniture) took most of Saturday.  I had the idea to put one of our card tables in Burke's room so we have a proper place for Lego building.  We are also finally able to have the Harry Potter sets out on display:

We moved Hewitt into Tosh's room and bunked their beds (Liv has LOVED climbing up to snuggle with Hewitt).  I took all of these photos at night and right before bed so the lighting is terrible, but you get the idea.

The sweetest thing was that Hewitt made this new sign for their door.  I seriously got teary-eyed when I saw it.  I must have said something like, "Awww," and Hewitt smiled all embarrassed, but cute like and said, "I knew I shouldn't have drawn us holding hands (wrinkle-nosed smile)..."   Darling!

The new year also means that we have a new Sunbeam in the family!  All of our kids are in primary this year (the only year all four will be in the primary program this fall).  Liv didn't have her best week in sharing time, but she certainly wasn't the worst kid either (it doesn't help that I'm in there).  I took these awesome shots of her tonight.  That is some serious hair!

I am planning to get the kids into the dentist for cleanings early tomorrow morning, and then it's back to school for everyone on Tuesday, even Liv!  We're starting a new chapter for sure!