My Dad

Today is my dad's birthday. Growing up, it was always fun to celebrate his birthday because I knew my own was right around the corner.
Now it is kind of a challenge because I have to try to come up with ideas for birthday gifts for the guy who has everything.
I decided to do a quick poll with my kids to see what they thought Grandpa would like. These are some of their ideas:
Adrienne-flowers
Kade-a big TV. But then he qualified that by saying, "Well, I guess Grandpa already has lots of TV's, so he doesn't need another one."
Annika- "I think we should get Grandpa a new suit.
Nathan- a birthday card.

Lots of interesting ideas, but I think I got it figured out...Grandpa will have to wait and see.

Happy Birthday Dad! We love you!

Sweet Release?

It has been a turbulent week at our house. Full of emotion. Trepidation, peace, anxiety, contentment, joy, sorrow, and even fear.
Burke was released as the 1st counselor in the bishopric today. And I was called as the Primary President.
Although I knew well in advance that Burke was going to be released, I only had about a week to dwell on my new responsibilities. That was probably a week too long. I used that time to completely stress myself out trying to figure out why I would be extended a calling like this. I am best at church when I am enjoying the fruits of others' labors.
I guess it doesn't work that way.
I took some time to go to the temple (thanks Rebecca) to try to figure out who to call as counselors, since Aimee, Tiffany and Shannon are all far away (miss you guys). I was able to find some peace in the temple. I got the mini mental pep talk that I needed and was feeling relatively okay until today.
I have spent much of the day in tears, and I am not really sure why. I guess I am nervous about my new calling, and the changes that have happened.
And, although I have done my share of griping, I am strangely a little sad that Burke has been released. I know that despite the busyness of his church calling, he mostly enjoyed it. He will be able to continue with his favorite part though--he has been called as the priest quorum advisor. He still gets to go do the fun stuff with the other boys.
I think the Lord knew it was time for him to be able to spend more time with us and with his dad, who recently started hospice care. We are looking forward to being able to spend Saturdays with Grandma and Grandpa, and having Sunday afternoons at home together.
Wednesdays are still out though ;).
Send your good thoughts our way as we both begin new chapter.

A Hairy Easter Basket

I found this really cute hairdo on one of the hair blogs I frequent. I adapted it to make it a "whole head" do. It reminds me of an Easter Basket- hence the silly title.
And no, this one wasn't a quickie, but it turned out to be gorgeous. I love it.

A Good Day

Nathan came home from school in such a sweet, upbeat mood today. It was nice to see him so happy. He isn't always the happiest kid on the block.

When I asked him why he was so happy today, he told me it was because he got to have waffles for breakfast, they served corn dogs for lunch, and he gets to go to computers at school tomorrow. On top of all of that, Friday is the end of quarter party, and gets to go because he didn't get into trouble more than 10 times. (For him, quite an accomplishment). He is really excited because he can bring his DS and play it with the other kids. In addition to all of this, he took a test and got a perfect score, and got to go to scouts this afternoon.

If my heart can become pure and simple, like that of a child, I think there probably can be no greater happiness than this. -- Kitaro Nishida

Adventures

As you may have seen from the post just below this, there was a big game this past weekend. Burke and the other guys from our team won the regional championship. It wasn't without some bumps and bruises along the way.

It is church ball, after all...

We also got busy and got our garden tilled with some fertilizer in. Well, Burke actually did the tilling. I bought some seeds, but I haven't planted them yet. It was too beautiful of a day to just work in the yard.

After we got the garden prepped, we hopped on our bikes and headed out for a ride. I have a map of all the local trails and picked one that was 2.2 miles long one way. I thought four miles pulling Adrienne in the trailer on my broken down bike would be plenty for me, but I surprised myself with my stamina. I didn't even get winded, and could have gone twice as far! It was nice to see that working out faithfully (relatively speaking) has made a difference. The kids held up pretty well, but they have almost grown out of their bikes, so they were pedaling like maniacs with their knees up to their elbows trying to keep up with us. Maybe Santa will bring some more bikes for Christmas this year. *Sigh*

We got this little "hitchhiker" for Annika, who doesn't know how to ride without training wheels yet (yes, she is six, and should be able to ride alone, but we are talking about the kid who didn't walk until she was two and just learned how to button her own clothes about a month ago--coordination isn't her strong point). It made the ride much more pleasant for everyone to be able to have her keep up.

There was a really cool BMX course at the trailhead. The boys decided to give it a try, but ended up with some cuts and scrapes. I was so glad they were wearing their helmets.

Although only the boys actually tried biking on the course, Annika and Adrienne made sure to take a great roll in the dirt as well, sans bikes. They were completely filthy before the ride started.

Nathan-my manly little man.

A cool tunnel on the trail. Look at those good-lookin' guys and gal.

A view into Adrienne's world. She loved the ride. We saw lots of dogs along the way. She made sure to greet each one with a happy "Hi, puppy!"

Kids, you gotta love 'em.

I took this video of the kids as we waited to load the bikes back up onto the van. What can I say? We've got some smooth moves at our house.

Funnies

Burke played church ball this year. Our team did great, and just tonight won the regional game. Woo-hoo! We were all really proud of him.
The kids and I all went to the last game tonight. Adrienne was actually a pretty good spectator and had a running commentary through most of the game.
My favorite was when she pointed to a pretty big guy who was very, um... sweaty. She commented, "Hey mom, that guy is sparkly!"

I've Been Busy

I got a bit of a kick in the pants the other day and decided to organize my food storage. It was not a small undertaking either. This is the before:

We got a Shelf Reliance rotation system to help keep things organized so that this doesn't happen again:

The garbage can was already half full before I finished filling it up with the rest of the old expired stuff that didn't get rotated into my food storage, but it is sickening and not even all of it! An expensive lesson in planning and taking care of food storage.

This is the during:

We worked on it during a break in the chaos on Saturday. Burke, Nathan, and I put together the shelving system, and loaded it up with the cans.
I took care of the rest today: I sorted and shelved the items according to expiration date. Hopefully we will be able to keep it organized. It can be difficult when the kids are rifling through things to find the goodies they especially like.
This is the after:




I am hoping to add to my long term food storage with the case lot sales that are currently running as well as some that are coming up.
I found a spectacular blog about preparedness. There is a link to it on my sidebar if you ever need to refer to it in the future. This lady knows her stuff and is super-organized.