Another Quick Update.

Last week was pretty fun. It was a short week due to Parent Teacher Conferences. Monday was a fairly typical day. I made a peach crisp for dessert. I'd used the recipe before but with fresh peaches. It was really soggy with canned peaches. But it still tasted good.

It was drug awareness week at the kids' school. Each day they had a dress up theme about color. For instance, Monday was wear the school colors. Each student that participated got to put their name in a drawing. They drew about 20 names per day and each one got a sticker or wrist band and a little prize. David's name got picked on Monday, and he hasn't taken his wristband off yet.

Tuesday Aaron and I were able to go to the temple. We left Amy with a sitter in town, so we didn't stay and do shopping like we normally do. It was a great experience as usual, and I got to spend an hour each way talking with Aaron, instead of trying to entertain Amy. When we got back we had a quick lunch and then I put Amy down for a nap. It took her a while but she finally went to sleep. Aaron and I worked outside in the yard. And I finally got rid of all of our moving boxes. Aaron had to fill in for someone at one of the focus groups for his project. In order to do that he had to start scouts 30 minutes later, and come home later. It was along day for him.

Wednesday... I really can't remember what happened. I know Aaron was on call, and David had scouts. Oh, I remember. There was a birthday lunch for Aaron's MA. I made breadsticks, since they liked the ones I made the previous week. And we ordered a cake from our neighbor. She dropped it off that morning, and I drove it over to the office when the breadsticks were ready.

Thursday was the first day of spring break. We started out the morning with Timothy throwing up. He said he was feeling better, so I didn't worry about it. I told the kids we had to do Saturday chores because we were going to be gone on Saturday. They finally got them done without too much complaining. I spent the morning planting strawberry plants, and David's cabbage that he got at school. Then just before lunch Timothy threw up again. Great, now I had to cancel my Parent Teacher Conferences at 12:20 and 12:40. But then I thought about how Aaron was going to try to make it to the meetings. I called him to see if he could make it, and he could, so I didn't have to cancel! I'm glad it worked out. Timothy rested for a bit that day, but really was fine, and never threw up again. The rest of the day we played, packed, cleaned, and watched some movies, and basketball. BYU lost, but they had a great run, and we enjoyed cheering them on.

That's all for now. Friday we left for Idaho, and all of my pictures are on the laptop, so I'll have to post more about that tomorrow!

First Houseguests

Let me start with a few days before the weekend. Thursday night Aaron was post call and very tired. Around 12:44 am I woke up and heard a faint buzzing sound. Aaron stirred and I told him I heard a buzzing he jumped up thinking he was on call, and had forgotten to turn on his pager. He quickly reassured him that he wasn't on call. He searched for his phone and it was indeed on vibrate, and there was a message. It's highly unusual for him to get called in when he's not on call, but when there are 5 peds patients in the hospital that need immediate attention the Dr. needs some backup. So Aaron went in and took care of two of them, and arrived back home around 3:00am.

We all slept in on Friday. Unfortunately that made for a very rushed morning. I was trying to get everyone in the van, and I couldn't figure out what was taking David so long. He was supposed to be feeding the cats. There was a mysterious extra cat in the shed, and David was trying to get it down from the rafters. I yelled at him to get in the van. I dropped the boys off, barely on time, and then went home. When I was almost home I realized that Amy wasn't buckled in. It scared me half to death! I should have just kept it to myself, because when I declared that she wasn't buckled in she suddenly thought it was funny and started bouncing and climbing around. I don't think I'll ever forget to buckle her in again!

This weekend we had our first guests stay in our guest room. Saturday afternoon Mom G* and Brittany arrived. We were just a pit stop on the way to see Daralee and her family. She just had baby #6. I am excited to have another niece. We spent the morning trying to get the house clean, and have some fun outside in the sun. Aaron was on call and ended up spending most of the day at work. We had a birthday party to go to at 4:00 (Drew works with Aaron in Scouts, and I work with his wife Jennie in Young Women's at church). However around 3:55 Mom and Brittany arrived. Aaron came home about 10 minutes after that. After showing them around the house and property and getting their luggage inside, we headed over to the birthday party.

The party was fun. Amy played with Hadlie's toys, and the boys and Brittany had fun with the Wii upstairs. The rest of us ate pizza, and watched the NCAA tournament. Mom was texting Anthon to see where he was sitting. We tried to spot him in the crowd. At some point I was trying to get Timothy to come downstairs and finish his food or go to the bathroom or something like that. I was following him down the stairs and I slipped. The stairs are carpeted and I had socks on. I fell right on my rear end, and it hurt. I also hit my elbow on something. That feels better, but I think I bruised my tailbone - it still hurts. It hurts to walk a lot or run, it hurts to stand for a long time, or sit for a long time - especially on hard surfaces. It also hurt to bend at the waist. I really hope it gets better soon, because I can't ride my exercise bike for more than 5 minutes - ouch!

Around half time we sang happy birthday to Drew, then we had cake and ice cream. Then Aaron took mom to the Auction House, and I took everyone else home. We watched the rest of the BYU game at home - we saw Anthon. The kids had fun playing with Brittany, then we had a snack of pita bread and hummus, then it was time for baths and bedtime. Aaron ended up having to go in one more time, but was back around 9:00. We played a game of Skip-Bo, per Brittany's request and then went to bed.

Aaron didn't have to go in overnight but woke up early to do rounds before church. We had to get everyone ready and drive to the city for Stake Conference. Aaron arrived during the opening hymn. The kids were mostly good, Aaron only had to take two phone calls and was able to stay, and we enjoyed the talks. When we got back home, we had a simple lunch and then Brittany and Mom were on their way again. Amy was falling apart because she was so tired, so I didn't get to say good-bye. But we'll see them again soon. I feel bad that we didn't take any pictures. So we'll have to get some next time we see them.

So who's next? Who wants to come visit our home? We've got a space for you!

St Patrick's Day Fun

OK, so I was lame and didn't get any pictures. But we sure had fun for St. Patrick's Day. I made green eggs and ham for breakfast and colored their milk green. I don't think I did anything spectacular for their lunches though. I made the traditional corned beef and cabbage for dinner. I made a fabulous dessert. I was looking all over for a grasshopper pie recipe, but everything called for marshmallows, which I didn't have and didn't want to use. I found one, but it used 8 eggs - and the dessert wasn't baked. So I decided to make up my own dessert. It was really good, but really rich.

I should have cut smaller pieces.

Oh well. I'll have to post the recipe on my recipe blog. But basically it's a Mint Oreo crust, with a layer of chocolate mousse, and a layer of white chocolate mint mousse, topped with Mint Oreo halves. Mmmm!!!

I also spent some time outside looking for signs of Spring.

Some of the raspberry starts are getting leaves.

Then David came home with this:

It's a cabbage plant. There is a contest in a few states about growing the largest cabbage. The winner in each state gets a $1000 bond for college. David completely believes he will win. Why? Because Aunt Brittany won for Idaho 3 years ago. And he helped her catch white butterflies (to prevent them from laying eggs on the cabbage plant). So somehow he thinks he can get this cabbage to grow to be over 40 lbs just like Brittany did. Hmm - we'll see. Because first we have to figure out where to plant it. Every spot in our garden is spoken for.

New Sounds, News Plants, New Furniture

Since we've moved to our house we've had to get to used to some new sounds, and lots of animals. There is a rooster or two around. Luckily I've never been awakened by one, and they crow randomly throughout the day not just when the sun rises. There are also cows across the street - about 15 or so. The property kitty corner behind us has horses, and a couple of dogs that supposedly have a lot of wolf in them. They make a howling sound like nothing I've ever heard. Two houses up the street also has horses. Two houses down (one of Aaron's fellow pediatricians) has llamas. They also have chickens and brought us some fresh eggs right after we moved in, and some huckleberry jam. She said she'd show us where she picks her huckleberries- mmm!

I found this crocus in the middle of my lawn. I'm not sure how it got there, but it's a fun reminder that Spring is around the corner.

Aaron planted some blueberries bushes. I think we have to add some fertilizers to get the soil to the right acidity.

We also planted a cherry tree. We are hoping that the cherry trees int eh neighbor's yard will help pollinate ours.

We also planted an apple tree. Honeycrisp - Mmm!

That night Aaron and David went to the Auction House, and bought a coffee table and two end tables
Finally we have somewhere to put our lamps other than on the floor!

Catching Up Once Again

Beautiful Sunrise last week

We have been pretty busy the last couple of weeks. I can't possible remember all the details. But here's a run down.

• Aaron had a Monday off instead of a Tuesday. I helped out in Timothy's class that day.
  
• Aaron started his framing project.
• I helped him frame and put insulation around the heating and cook air return ducts in the garage. Hopefully that will save us some money in the long run.
• Wednesday was a day off of school. We made plans for friends to come over, however Timothy started throwing up Tuesday night.
• Plans changed and David went over to Jonathan's house for a couple hours.
• Timothy was better by Wednesday night.
• Thursday Aaron woke up nauseous.
  
• Thursday I started my painting project.
  
• Friday I did some grocery shopping and met with some friends as we planned a short skit for the Relief Society Birthday Party Celebration.
  
• Friday when David came home from school he said he felt sick. Amy woke up grumpy from her nap.
  
• I put Amy on the drop cloth while I painted the last few feet of wall. She didn't like that the drop cloth was sticking to her legs. So I moved her to the only piece of carpet that wasn't covered. She promptly threw up on it.
• When she threw up the second time David joined her.
• Both were better by Saturday morning in time for the Pinewood Derby.
• That afternoon Aaron did some more shopping for garden type stuff.
  
• He and the boys cleaned up the yard, although not without some complaining.
  
• Sunday we friends over for dinner. It was fun to give them a tour, and have the kids play together. Aaron even took them for a ride in the trailer behind the riding lawn mower.
• Monday I finally got back to exercising and and a great workout.
  
• Monday afternoon I started feeling nauseous. Luckily Aaron was home within about an hour, and he got dinner ready for him and kids, and got them ready for bed. I laid on the bed and read for a while. I think I fell asleep at 8:30. That was about the worst night sleep I've had in a while.
  
• Tuesday I was feeling better, but not well enough to make the trip to the temple we had planned. I guess we'll go next week.
  
• Aaron helped out in David and Timothy's classes.
• We spent a good chunk of the day finally picking a place for our garden, mapping it out and pricing materials.
  
• I spent a great evening with the Relief Society sisters and I was able to enjoy a meal for the first time in 24 hours!
  
• Then Aaron and I finalized exactly how many rows of what we're planting. We've ordered our seeds (Thanks Mom! - She's bringing them when she arrives on Saturday).

I'm sure I missed something, but that's it in a nutshell!

Pinewood Derby

Way back in January David and Aaron cut out David's block of wood according to David's design. Then it sat in the box, until last Saturday. We finally got the paint out and Tuesday Aaron and David added weights. David painted it on Wednesday. Friday they put the wheels on.

Saturday morning we headed over to the church. I think there were some sporting conflicts. Only 7 Cub Scouts were there with their cars. David was excited after he won the first race. However each car had to race 4 times, once on each track.
David won again, but then got third. He realized that he could still get into the finals if he did well on the 4th race. He got first again.

After all cars had raced four times he and another boy were tied for first. On the first heat of the top four, David's car crashed. The judges decided to run that one again - all cars on the same tracks. David's car won that heat. He subsequently won the rest of them. The one pictured below was race # 3 of the finals. His is the red one on the green track.
The video below is the last race. Sorry it's sideways at the beginning - Aaron remembered too late that you can't record sideways.



After all races were complete the Cub Master wanted to race his old cars against David's.

David consistently got 3rd.

David and his car and trophy.

The top three cars

David was very excited to win, and was a pretty good sport about it too. It was his first Pinewood Derby, so we weren't expecting him to win. He has high expectations now.

Painting Project

This week I took on a new project. The guest room needed to be painted. Remember it looked like this:

This is what it looked like after the first coat of primer.

I think we are going to need more primer!

Second coat (and a third on the bright blue) It looks a lot better.

So I start the paint.
It's a cream color (Satin) so it's nothing exciting.

Not bad!

However as I looked over my handiwork after it was dry I realized I missed a lot of spots. I didn't press hard enough on the sponge roller, so there were bits of white everywhere. I thought I could just dab a little paint on those spots with a brush. It took way too long, and I really should have just used the sponge roller again. Oh well, lesson learned. I'll have to post another picture after the tape is off and the room is put together. That will be soon since we are having guests sooner than we expected! Hopefully we'll be hosting Grandma G* and Aunt Brittany this weekend, if all goes as planned.

The Cats

I don't know if I told you the story behind the cats. The previous owners had two cats. Since they are currently renting where pets aren't allowed, they asked if we would care for them until they find a more permanent place. They drop off food every couple of weeks for them. The plan is that they will take the cats when they move at the end of the school year. But they may leave them. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Until then David is doing a great job of remembering to feed them every morning. The kids keep asking why we won't let them inside. I really don't want cat hair all over my furniture. I don't want scratch marks on the furniture or anywhere else, not to mention "pet stains". So they will be staying outside.

This is Peaches.

She typically sits outside the back door by the porch. She meows at anyone who walks by hoping they will open the door. She even got in once when I was talking to someone at the front door. She will scratch at the door and screen. The weather stripping in really torn up. She will even jump up and hang on the door handle trying to get in. However if you find her outside she will completely ignore you, and run away. Yesterday however she finally let Amy pet her.

This is Dashes.

Apparently she is the dominant one. She is very friendly and will come when you call her. However if Peaches is eating and Dashes comes around, Peaches will disappear. She broke her tail at some point because the end is bent. Her fur covers it up, so you can't tell until you run your hand along the tail.

I don't know if they are mousers, but I have seen a few clumps of bird feathers on the grass lately. And Peaches dug up one of my raspberry starts, but I think I saved it, we'll see. So, that's a little about our temporary pets.

Spring is coming

We've had some warmer weather lately. Amy and I are enjoying some more time outside. She loves being outside. Yesterday while we were out, I took some pictures. There are some signs of Spring.

Some of the raspberry starts already have green shoots.

This is where I planted the raspberry starts.

Amy loves petting Dashes

Amy was finally allowed to pet Peaches. Usually she runs away from us.

This viney plant by the porch is beautiful

It's already starting to bloom
I have three roses bushes. I believe they are yellow roses. I still need some clippers so I can cut them back.

This is the maple tree the previous owners planted 2 years ago.

These are the shrubs and trees that I have to figure out how to take care of. They need to be trimmed as well.

Amy and I just had fun playing on the grass, sitting in the sun, throwing tennis balls, and stacking rocks - really they were pieces of cement.

Phew! What a Day!

Highlights from today:

• The kids got chocolate covered doughnuts for breakfast - we don't do that very often
• At 7:30 I remembered that we were going to the church to clean at 8:00
• We cleaned and had fun. Abby and I had to laugh both our little ones were still in PJs and her 6 year old son and I were basically wearing the same outfit ( gray T-shirt with black striped Adidas pants)
• I dug 10 holes for raspberry starts, and mixed in some compost. Who knows what kind of soil we have here. Meanwhile the kids supposedly do their chores.
  
• The kids and I went to the K*'s so I could help Shannon dig up some raspberry starts - OK she dug I just brought them home. I got more than I expected.
  
• I planted the raspberry starts, and had to dig 3 more holes to get them all in. Amy helped me fill in the holes with dirt. Mostly she just got it in my hair.
• David and Timothy had fun digging in the dirt - I gave them a spot far from the raspberries.
• Then it was back in the house for lunch, unfortunately I smashed Timothy's finger in the door when I was coming inside. He was holding the back of it, bracing himself while trying to take off his shoes - ouch. He's OK, but spent the next 20 minutes crying in his room while I frantically made lunch and took a shower.
• I then tried to get Amy to take a nap before the babysitter came over. Difficult to do when Timothy is crying, and then mad that I didn't make him lunch. Thankfully she fell asleep.
• I hurry and wrap a present, the babysitter arrives, and I leave for a baby shower.
• I spent 2 wonderful hours with some friends, and new acquaintances celebrating baby #5.
• After I get home the kids dig outside some more, and I try to clean up around the house.
• I was happy to find out BYU won their game today!
  
• Soon Aaron arrives home from his scout campout. He is dead tired.
• We get to work on the fence. The concrete is dry, and he finally has time to put the fence back together. I got a few scratches from the tree in the corner, but we manage to fix the fence!!! Oh and I remembered to water my raspberry starts.
  
• Then it's time to make dinner, and listen to our high school basketball team in the state championship game. Unfortunately they lost.
• Aaron takes David and Amy to the Auction House. They didn't buy anything.
• Baths, scriptures and bed time!
• After a little cleanup, and preparation for my lesson at church, I am ready for bed!

Did I miss anything?

Pictures of our house

This is the view out of our front window. It was a beautiful sunset, too bad my camera didn't capture it.

Can you see the mountain just behind those tall trees? Trust me, it's better in person.

Saturday after the house was clean and finally put in order I took some pictures.

We can finally fit all of our living room furniture in one room.
We still need to hang pictures.

We only kept two bookcases in the living room, and kept the nicer decorations to make it more formal.

You can see into the kitchen from the living room

This is our new table. We don't have matching chairs yet.

The boys room has the same decorations as before. I asked them if they wanted to leave them up, and they said "yes".

The master bedroom

It still needs some pictures, I think.

Amy's room is pretty simple. I don't know if we'll paint it. But I have a cross stitch that I want to frame and hang in there. I don't know what else I'll do yet.

I did get her to take a nap, by laying with her on the floor.

The Family Room

We've actually moved some things around since this was taken. We still need to hang pictures.

This desk is for the kids to use for drawing, writing etc. I don't want that on the kitchen table because our last table looked awful after pen scratches, and ink stains.

The garage

Yes, we can finally fit both vehicles in the garage. I love having a garage. Mostly because we no longer have to scrap windshields after frosty nights, and we can climb into the van without getting wet when it's raining outside.

The playroom

Until we have more kids to fill up bedrooms this will be a play room. It was one of the last to be organized. It's still not in perfect condition, but better than before. As I was moving things around on the shelves I discovered that there were two extra shelves on top.

(before with previous occupants' things)So now, instead of having a place to hang clothes it is just shelves!

The Guest Room

It still needs to be painted, so all the boxes are in the closet, and the other things are in the middle of the room. I really don't know when we'll get to that. Hopefully before the summer when we expect to have guests!

Food storage room

I finally opened all the boxes and organized the food, so I know what's there.

Someday this will be full. Probably in the fall after I've canned a ton.

So that's the house so far.
I'll add more pictures after we get our garden in!