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The Great Snipe Hunt

It's almost 10:00 at night.  Do you know where your child is?

I expect to see my Man-Child around 3:30 AM in the morning.  He's off on a glorified snipe hunt with a man who is a very trustworthy employee of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, member of the ward, and all around nice-guy.

They are not actually hunting snipes.  They have gone up near Strawberry Reservoir to search for and observe the behavior of sage grouse.

What?  You don't know what sage grouse are?  Doesn't everyone know what sage grouse are? 

Umm.. actually, I'd never even heard of them.  But Clark had.  Here's a picture-- quite a fetching fowl.

They are most likely riding around on 4-wheelers right now and will continue until about 2:00 AM, when they begin their drive home.  A couple of other biologists will be there too.  You can imagine how thrilled Clark was to have this opportunity.   A lot (dare I say, most) people would not enjoy staying up all night in freezing cold temperatures, with snow on the ground, searching for snipes sage grouse.  

Abe and I are so grateful to have others willing to help mentor Clark.  Abe makes a great scout master and has helped lots of scouts progress and go on great camp-outs, but he's not really the outdoorsy type.  Clark needs to be around other people who also think sage grouse hunting is thrilling. 

The mother hen (yours truly) is very happy for Clark to get to go live his dreams.  I'll also be very happy when he is home and safe in his bed early tomorrow morning.  Until then, I'll think relaxing and safe thoughts. 

Never Say Never

This evening we did have dinner together, but it wasn't a fancy sit-down affair.  A few of us had left-overs (from a fancy sit-down affair).  A few had canned chili (I think it's gross, but they like it).  Cannon took a late nap, so when he woke up he needed food.  We knew he would refuse the left-overs and wouldn't even consider chili, so Abe kindly made him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Just before he gave it to Cannon I mentioned that Abe needed to cut off the crust or Cannon would take a couple of bites from the middle and leave the rest.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME????

When the older kids were little there was NO WAY I would cut off crusts for them.  I have had a little saying to deal with picky eaters:  Picky people can pick. 

Having been a picky eater as a child and even a bit now as an adult, I can totally understand that some foods do not taste good to some taste buds.  Children, feel free to pick anything off that is offensive to you-- just do so quietly.  I am not going to force anyone to eat something that is truly detestable, but I'm not going to make you special foods either.  Never say never.  I think I also swore off toy guns and Barbies when Clark was in utero.  Ha!

Seriously, what has happened to me? Why am I gladly cutting the crusts off my little kids' sandwiches?  I think it is Cannon's fault.  He has broken me down. 

He really likes his tie.  My, my, aren't they handsome?

Such lovely dresses from Grandma Barbara.  Such lovely girls.
My cup runneth over.

Isn't this sweet?   My Man-Child is letting his littlest sister play with him and his friends on the trampoline.  Oh wait... I think he's holding her hostage... never mind.

Grandpa the Fisherman took Clark and Elinor fishing for many hours on Saturday.  They returned very late with one hefty fish, which Clark grilled up all by himself on Sunday afternoon.  
Bethany made peanut butter cookies all by herself on Sunday evening.
Elinor made cornbread muffins all by herself this evening.
Do you see where I 'm going with this?  The way I figure it, the more they cook, the less I have to cook!  I like cooking when I have plenty of time to putter around the kitchen and create masterpieces, but that is not the norm.  So I would like them to cook A LOT.

When the kids cook in the kitchen it is best if I get out of dodge.  They can ask me questions, but my absence prevents my comments that might damage their fledgling interest in cooking.  I figure they can read the recipe and if they mess up-- well, it's not like I never messed up a recipe. 

Want to Know More About Pi Pod?

Clark's FIRST Lego League team put this great video together to show to a group of potential sponsors.   
 Enjoy!

Signs of Springtime

I have referred to "The Hole" in our backyard.  Springtime is digging season.  I believe he may be attempting to tunnel under the backyard.  Remind me to put a stop to that.  Feel free to dig to China, but please don't mess up the sprinkler system-- or hit a gas line.  Especially the gas line.

Don't be grossed out.  This is a grub that Faith kept as a pet in a bucket for a few days.  Isn't Springtime wonderful?  All of the outdoors comes indoors!

Springtime is March Madness.  BYU had a big game tonight, which they lost, but since I am an openly avowed fair-weather fan, I'm over it.  I don't expect you to respect me for my position, but there it is.  Abe really wanted to watch the game-- but we don't have the cable channel it was on.  So we did what all responsible parents of six children do when they want to watch a ball game-- we left our children home so we could spend the evening at a local sports bar.

Okay, it was just a restaurant with a really big screen TV and of course, no alcohol was consumed.  Sometimes it is fun to get out and do something outside of the normal.  Not that going to a restaurant is exactly a cultural experience.

I don't watch much sports, unless you count ballroom dancing and ice skating.  Let me just say, that the commericals shown during "man" sporting events are very different from what I usually watch.  I don't actually watch much TV, but what I do watch isn't sponsored by beer companies, video games, Direct TV, cool cars, or sports drinks.  I'm more in the dishwasher detergent, body lotion, and diapers and baby wipes demographic. 

That's okay--it takes all kinds. 

You should know that although Abe is also a fair-weather fan, he is more loyal than me and the loss was hard on him this evening.  Please be gentle with him if you talk to him over the next few days.

The History of My Life in Errands

Several months ago I wrote about the evolution of clothing in our house. 
I shall now attempt to relate The History of My Life in Errands.  Prepare to be riveted.

Stage 1
When the Man-Child was very small, I looked for any opportunity to get out of the house.  Target was a favorite destination.  If I needed anything--one thing-- I would take a trip out.  The grocery store was great.  The library, the zoo, the museum, the park, a friend's house.  Needed to make copies for something at church?  Let's take a trip to the copy store. 
It drove me nuts to stay home too much.

One day when we were visiting Spokane, my father-in-law told me about when my mother-in-law was raising her brood of 9 little people.  She would group her necessary errand-running together so she had to leave home as infrequently as possible. 

I swear, I thought to myself--WHY?
Why would you not want to get out of the house and go run errands.  It's fun to get out of the house and run errands.

Foolish, foolish girl that I was.

Stage 2
Then my people started coming.  My own brood started growing and "pleasure errand running" became a thing of the past.  It really changed right around the time of Cannon's birth.  He was... how shall I say... unpredictable.  It was very challenging to take him out and about.  And I was completely sleep deprived for months on end.  Clark was nine and not old enough to leave home alone tending the other kids.  So I basically stopped running all unnecessary errands and became much more resourceful.  I started grouping my errands so I didn't have to take Cannon anywhere if I could possibly help it.

This was hard for me because I still really liked getting out and about.  I liked running errands.  I still got stir crazy after being home for too long.  I felt a little trapped that I wanted to get out, but couldn't.  Well, I could, but it just wasn't worth the effort.

Stage 3
Nowadays, Clark and Bethany are both old enough to leave home tending the younger ones for relatively brief stints.  I can freely go to the grocery store, relatively unencumbered.  Of course I take George, but he's a cakewalk compared to Cannon at that age.  Here's the thing, though.  I don't want to go do the errands anymore.  I have so many things I want to do here at home with the kids, that very few things are worth leaving them.  We have a full schedule each day of jobs, reading, practicing, playing, school work, meal prep and eating, piano lessons (I teach), and taking care of the little ones.  I just don't like leaving home much anymore. 

My food pantry is suffering.  I really need to go do a big grocery store run, but our resourcefulness keeps finding us meals we can make without a trip.  A child needs a haircut, but I'll just get out the scissors and do it myself (scary).  I need more eyeliner.  I need to go peruse the library shelves.

I am grouping my errands together and I have an extensive list of all the things I need to go do.  The question is--- How long does my list have to get before I go out and run errands to actually accomplish any of my errands?

Please understand that I consider it a personal triumph that I no longer feel compelled to get out of the house so frequently.  I am so glad that staying at home with my children is such a pleasure to me.  I enjoy what we do here and I enjoy my children's company.  I didn't like it when I was younger and felt unable to be content calmly being at home. 


I have a wonderful sister-in-law, Mary who is married to Abe's youngest brother.  She has three little ones and has always been an example to me of contentedly being at home.  She has used her young motherhood time so much more wisely than I did.  She has seriously continued her education and learned great homemaking skills. 


Stage 4?

I wonder if my errand aversion will fade when I am through with the baby and toddler phases?  Will I go back to what I once was?  I guess I hope not, but perhaps somewhere in the middle.  I'd rather not have this aversion to errand running, as there are errands that must be run.  I'd just so much rather spend my time with friends and family, investing in relationships and learning new things. 

Past, Present and Future

PAST:  Birthday season is over.  This is happy news to me.  Cannon's birthday is at the end of May, but after three girl birthdays in less than a month, I'm a little party-pooped.  The girls all have new roller-blades to show for all the festivities.

 PRESENT:  Allergy season is beginning to rear it's ugly head.  They are getting worse every year and I loathe taking medicine because it makes me kind of crazy.   I feel like I hallucinate in my sleep.  Does that happen to any of you?  Sudafed makes me cuckoo.  My throat is itchy and my contacts are really irritating my eyes.  Blah.  I will suffer for the next two months.  I'll feel better just in time for Abe to start suffering from grass pollen.  My nemesis is tree pollen.  Oh wait, Abe just has allergy-like symptoms, but will NOT acknowledge that he actually has allergies. 

FUTURE:  We are getting really excited for our trip to St. Louis for FIRST Lego League.  Abe is in planning heaven and he helps me fall asleep each night by regaling me with details about the trip's itinerary.  I appreciate so much what he does, but my brain struggles to follow his thought process.

PAST:  I hosted my neighborhood book club this evening.  We read and discussed Three Cups of Tea.  Of course we had to start by having tea (herbal tea).  It went very well.  For starters, people came.  That is important. I always worry about that first thing.   But then the company and discussion was great.

PRESENT:  We put a pack-n-play in our room for George to sleep in. 
He never sleeps there.  He still sleeps in a bouncy chair in the bathroom.  And guess what's in the pack-n-play?  Yep, it's the laundry waiting to be folded. 
The problem is that the clean laundry is now so conveniently out of the way, that I'm not getting it folded and my people have to fish for their clothing.
But I ask you, is that so hard for them?  I get the laundry clean, don't I?  Is it too much to ask them to search for their clean clothes?  Ungrateful offspring. 
Just kidding, the little darlings love and appreciate their mama.  That is some serious positive thinking on my part.

FUTURE:  I see a lot of laundry folding in my future tomorrow. 

Our Family Project

It is actually happening.  Faith is growing up.
For a while, the days and years were passing, but somehow Faith never seemed to get any older.

This last week has been dedicated to preparations for Faith's Mermaid Under the Sea Party.  It was a little (lot) over the top, but we all had a grand time preparing!

 Clark was the artistic director for decorations.  I got them their supplies--plastic table cloths, crepe paper, tape and construction paper-- and let them go to town.

The giant squid was my favorite.

We were a little worried that the shark might be too scary for the little mermaids.

The friendly dolphin.

You can see that we did spend a lot of time getting party things ready.  However, I figure we incorporated a lot of home schooling in to our planning.  We did lots of art this week and ocean studies.   And there was home economics (baking and decorating cupcakes).
These cupcakes were really fun to make and Bethany was very helpful in making them.
For all of Clark's talents in creating the ocean scenes, he was useless when it came to decorating cupcakes and I had to fire him.  

Bethany and Elinor and their friends were the BEST helpers for the party.  They planned their outfits and hairstyles and they pretty much ran the whole party.  They were marvelous!  I could not have done the party without them.

They danced with the girls and played games with them.

The little girls were very cute in their mermaid outfits.  You can do a lot with plastic table cloths-- especially when you have no sewing skills!  Notice Cannon down at the end.  He had to be in the picture but he kept fiercely yelling at us, "I'm a BOY mermaid!"

 We made sand art with masses of pixie sticks and baby food jars.  It wasn't nearly as messy as I feared and it was an easy project they could all do.

I have to admit that I love a fun party, so even though this probably looks like it was a lot of effort (and it was), I really enjoyed working together with the kids.  We all brainstormed together and it was a fun family project.

Abe told an impromptu mermaid story to the crowd.  It was an exciting story about a mermaid girl named "Faithina" who was to become mer-queen, but the evil great-uncle, Googli the Jellyfish, captured her.  Then all her mermaid friends came and rescued her from his electric, slimy tentacles.  The girls were all delight!

We liked getting to throw Faith such a fun party.  It can be rough to be the youngest of three sisters and have the last birthday.

As if Friday's party weren't enough--- Faith got to go on her birthday date with Barbara, just like her sisters.

Barbara, thank you for treating the girls to such lovely dresses.  Good thing the boys don't want dresses!

All these pictures make me want to go to Hawaii!  Or at least some warmer weather!

And A Happy St. Patty's Day To You

Several years ago when the kids were younger we regularly had two teenage girls come and babysit.  Chelsea and Janiel were wonderful.  They were the kind of babysitters that were thrilled to be there, they loved the kids and they often came with planned games to play.

The house wasn't always cleaned up when they left, but it was totally worth it.

For a couple of St. Patrick's Days in a row the girls came and put on a spectacular leprechaun hunt with a candy treasure at the end.  'Lenny the Leprechaun' would leave clues around and a treasure hunt ensued.  They went all out to make it super fun for the kids.

Years after Clark had accepted the truth about Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy-- he could not accept that leprechauns were not real.  He could not figure out how Chelsea and Janiel could have pulled off the miracle of Lenny the Leprechaun. 

The joy of this now, is that Clark puts on a Leprechaun hunt every St. Patty's Day for all the other kids.  He stayed up waaaaay too late last night working on it, but how could I say no? 

I thought it was so clever (I realize I am his mother), so I will share it for your (and my) St. Patty's Day pleasure!

Please don't criticize the spelling-- it's a work in progress.  Just enjoy the thrill of the treasure hunt!

He wrote all the clues himself.  I am a proud mama.

Oooh,  My man-child knows his history of St. Patrick!

Hee hee! Hee hee!

'Jiggety Jig' is an Irish jig song Clark plays on the piano.

I hope he never stops doing leprechaun hunts with the younger kids.  I hope I bawl my eyes out the first St. Patrick's Day he lives away from home and isn't here to do it.  

BUT... would you believe the little stinkers did the hunt while I was gone on my walk this morning???  Sadness.  That is almost the equivalent of doing Easter baskets or Christmas stockings without me.  Fortunately Abe is handy with the camera, so we have pictures.

Still-- I missed this moment of discovery of the gold coin treasure. 

A Post Without a Title

Grandma Barbara is taking the kids out on a date for their birthdays this year.  Bethany was so excited to go this past Saturday.

Abe and I are so grateful to have other people who love our children and help nurture and raise them.  

And if this picture is any indication--- we need all the help we can get!

In my defense, the girls dressed Cannon up without my knowledge.  I guess I did run for the camera and have him pose, but what would you have done?  

Cannon, I'm sorry I let this happen to you.  I won't the girls do this again.  But you are pretty cute.
Oh, help-- I need to have another girl.

Bethany created this hair style for me while we finished our read aloud book for book club, The Golden Goblet.  I LOVE to have my hair brushed and played with.  It is so relaxing to me.  I will pay my children to brush my hair for me-- it's cheaper than the hair salon. 

Most of you don't know this handsome young man, but he makes the blog today because he was about the only one who appreciated the Fig Newtons we ate at our kids' book club today.  He kept coming back for more.  Our book was set in ancient Egypt and the main character ate figs.  Fig Newtons were as close as we could get.  According to one young man, "Fig Newtons taste like moldy old chocolate".

Shush yo moth.  Din't jo mama eva tell you 'if you can't say sompin nice, don say nuttin at all'.

I love these kids.  I love that I can treat them like my own!

 Cannon's conversation with his nursery teacher on Sunday:

Cannon:  enthusiastically  I'm getting baptized!
Teacher:  Oh?  When are you getting baptized?
Cannon:  My mom will call you!


Cannon's conversation with Clark in the car on the way home from church:

Clark:  I'm dying to go fishing!
Cannon:  I will save you!
Clark:  How will you save me?
Cannon:  fist pumping I will fight the fish!
Clark:  laughing, then to mom  I'm so glad Cannon is my brother
Cannon:  throwing his arms around Clark  I'm so proud of you, Clark!
Clark:  It was so fun picking him up from nursery
Cannon:  I missed you so much!

I concur with Clark, I am so glad Cannon is in our family.

We had a grand time this evening celebrating Bethany's birthday by going to see Tangled (I know, we're so current with movies) and getting dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Cannon.  A very fun night for us.  Abe took the kiddos home afterward while George and I shopped for Bethany's birthday gifts.
Apparently, some people like to plan ahead and not buy their child's gifts the night before their birthday, racing against the stores closing.  BORING!  I must not have enough excitement in my life and I crave that thrill.

Not.

But the gifts are bought and I will try to do better next year.  Like she cares when the gifts were bought as long as they are there tomorrow morning.  Oh, shoot.  I still have to wrap them.

Humor Your Mama

Bethany is about to turn 10.  Elinor recently turned 8.  Clark is soon to turn 12.

That's right-- 12.  He will go to Young Men's.  He will go to scout camp (a 50-miler) for a week.  *sniff, sniff* Can someone please hand me a tissue... never mind, I have a used one in my pocket... I'll just use that.

I was having a moment of panic last week about my children growing up so quickly.  Stop the train-- I want to get off!  I wanted more than anything for Clark to build another "Noah's Ark" and put all of his toy animals on it like he used to do when he was three years old.

Mom:  Please, Clark!  I'm dying here!  Humor your poor mama and build an ark like the good old days!

Clark:  No.  I'm working on my D&D adventure and map.

Mom:  Yeah, that's good too, but I really need  you to play with your toy animals  Remember how much fun you used to have? 

Clark:  I'm just really not interested in doing that right now.

Mom:  PLEASE! (in a guttural tone)  I beg of you!  Okay, how about you only have to do half of your reading time tomorrow if you will build me an ark.

Clark:  Okay.
Mom:  YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All is right with my universe again.

Organize Every Needful Thing

My LDS friends are familiar with the scripture that reads:
"Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God"

It's a great scripture that lays out beautifully what our homes should look like.  
What I especially like about this verse is the idea to "organize every needful thing".  Note, that it does NOT say to organize every single thing.  Just every needful thing.  What are those needful things?

This is where Abe and I see things a little bit differently.  He and I have talked about what I'm about to write, and we agree.  So don't worry, no body is being mean here.  When it comes to keeping house, Abe is a "miss the forest for the tree" kind of guy.  I'm more of a "Oh?  Is that forest actually made of individual trees?"

Now, I am the one who mostly lives with, clothes, feeds, and educates the children here at home.  I also do the vast majority of the household chores.  That is not a complaint-- it is a statement of fact.
One of my secrets to happiness is that my brain is able to overlook the "not needful things".   Maybe I train my brain to do this so I don't go crazy.  Whatever the reason, it works for me.

Here are a few examples:

----Little kids' shoes on the wrong feet--  I'm just happy they have shoes on.  If they ask me if their shoes are on the right feet I'll tell them the truth, but if it doesn't bother them, it doesn't bother me.  If we're going to church or getting a family picture taken I will make sure their shoes are on the right feet.  If Abe sees them with shoes on the wrong feet, he will immediately help them correct it.  I'm glad he does.  I hope my lack of early concern doesn't damage the bones in their feet, but little kid bones are still kind of soft, so it's probably okay.

--- Couch cushions put on the couch backwards.  I'm just happy the cushions are on the couch and not being used as wrestling mats on the living room floor.  It is true that the silver zippers are showing outwards, but so what?  If I was hosting a big gathering in my home or if my visiting teachers were coming over, I would put them on the right way.  But they are just as soft to sit on if they are on forward or backward.  This drives Abe nuts.  I say, if it bothers you fix it.  I've got bigger fish to fry.

---Milk caps missing from milk jugs.  Occasionally (maybe once a month) the lid to the milk jug goes missing.  I honest to goodness do not know what happens to it.  Does someone throw it away?  Does it slide under the bookshelf?  Does it fall down the air vent.  I don't know.  I don't care.  The important question is, "Is the milk put away?"  If the milk is put away then all is well.  A jug of milk doesn't last that long in our house, so the lid-less one will be finished off soon enough and the next jug will have a lid.  The missing milk cap really gets Abe's goat.  The kitchen counters can be filled with dirty dishes and crumbs, but a missing milk cap?  Missing the forest for the tree.

---Toothpaste lids.  This falls in the same category as milk lids, but it's so cliche that I won't go into any explanation on it.  You can guess which side of that issue we fall on. 

I don't mean to bust on Abe.  His knack for details is a great benefit to our family in many ways.  He can  wrap his mind around things that are completely beyond me.  He can really think through things and he edits all my writing because I always have mistakes that I don't catch.  He reminds me of things I have going on and plans wonderful events for our family.  I come up with a lot of ideas, but he is the one who helps execute them.  

He does details really well and I do big picture really well.  I guess that makes us a pretty good team.

Ten Thoughts

Ten thoughts for the evening:

1.  Eleven year-old boys don't generally like to sing out loud and strong in Primary, but I'm pretty sure if we sang "Queen" songs, that would change.  This hypothesis comes from listening to my man-child and his friend singing "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" on Rock Band repeatedly this afternoon. 

2.  The movie, Australia, with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman is a bit of an odd movie.  I don't really like it.  We've watched it in bits and pieces over the last week.  I do like Hugh Jackman, however, and I guess that's the important part.

3.  I'm in charge of he neighborhood book club this month.  I picked Three Cups of Tea, which I haven't read yet, so I don't even know if I'll like it, much less if anyone else will like it.  Last year I picked Little Men, which I wanted to read, but I'm don't think anyone else really liked it.  Rather selfish on my part. This year I tried to go with a more "New York Times Bestseller" approach.  Hopefully it was a good pick.  I guess it would make for interesting conversation if some people don't like it.  You know how controversially I like to be:-)

4.  It must be getting close to spring, because I made a beef stew for dinner tonight and although it was a good beef stew, it was very unsatisfying.  I've decided that after a long winter-- I AM TIRED OF SOUPS AND STEWS.  It's time for something lighter and fresher. 

5.  Bethany is learning a song on her violin that she will play with a group of other violinists at a recital.  The song is called Moto Perpetuo.  I hate this song.  I hate it more than any song Bethany has ever played before.  It makes my brain feel like it is on fire.  Like someone is sticking needles in my ears.  I hate it.  I listen as long as I can and then I ask her to please move onto another song before my brain explodes and oozes out of my ears.  Sometimes when she is learning a new song I'll sit with her and make sure she is learning it correctly.  NOT THIS SONG.  I get as far away from her as possible.
Yesterday her teacher told me that she is having a hard time learning this song and I needed to help her and make sure she is playing correctly.  Blahh. 
So what she's saying is, I shouldn't scream, "STOP PLAYING THAT SONG!"  I should actually help her??  I should encourage her to practice the dreaded song rather than threatening her if she plays it one more time. 
Well, I just don't know if I can do that.  I'll have to think about it.  That is asking a lot.

6.  Do you think they will ever make a movie of the book Austenland?  I just re-read it.  I'm not saying it is that good of a book, but I like it.  It is a guilty pleasure, and I will not apologize for it.

7.  I want to go to the zoo soon.  With a family our size, getting a zoo membership is the economical way to go.  When Clark was little we went to the zoo a lot.  Cannon and Faith have hardly gone at all.  I will get some good exercise this year hoofing it up and down those hills at Hogle Zoo.  I've got to get my money's worth!

8.  The kids and I are planning Faith's 5 year-old birthday party.  It is very helpful to have a built-in party planning committee.  Upon request Clark quickly turned a cardboard box into a treasure chest and the girls came up with some mermaid games.  Ah, the perks of having older kids!

9.  Our vacuum fell down the basement stairs last week.  It survived.   It is a very sturdy vacuum we've had since the beginning of our marriage.  The brand is Simplicity.  It's lasted a long time and I think it has many more years left in it.  It probably helps that we don't use it too often.
I shouldn't have said that.

10.  My room is a mess.  How come I won't clean it up?  I've had a goal of cleaning up my room for 3 months, and yet I don't.  Why?  Am I afraid to clean up my room?  Maybe.  Does this stem from my childhood?  Some traumatic experience in my youth of cleaning my room?  I don't think so.  Am I too lazy to clean my room?  Maybe.  Would I rather do other things?  Obviously.  Blogging is so much more fun than cleaning my room!!

The Slideshow

Ahhhh!!!  Why must they grow up so quickly?  I'm about to run into their rooms and beg them all to please slow down their growing up. 

Allison put together this beautiful slide show of Annie and Elinor growing up.  She also was the official photographer for the weekends events and she has some great pictures up on her website.  http://lovinorange.com/?p=556#comment-969

Thank you, Allison.

The Big Day

Elinor got baptized on Saturday.  It was a beautiful day for her and for our family.

Grandpa Fox baptized her and Abe confirmed her a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

There were four children, including Elinor's cousin, Annie, from our ward getting baptized, so there were a lot of people involved in the day, but it all worked out well.  We did lose track of Faith at one point, but she was safe and sound sitting with another family.  

They had a lot to celebrate!

We went over to our church house for a luncheon afterward.  Did I go overboard in my planning of things?  Perhaps.   

But in my defense, my mother loved a good party and I think she gets to help me out from the other side when it comes to planning events.  I appreciate it!  My girls and I had a fun time putting things together.

Grandma Fox and her aunt, Aunt Marie.  Aunt Marie and Uncle Bob are so sweet to come to our special events.

And now the weekend is all done.  It was a lot of work to get everything ready, but it was well worth it.  I am feeling so relaxed as I write this post, thinking of all the good memories we have.   Thank you to all our family and friends who helped out and shared this time with us.