Swirling

Swirling through my head lately:

I have become a weather wimp. I went outside and got in the car, it registered 78 degrees. A little more than a year ago, 78 would have been truly arctic.

Several weeks ago M and I were watching So You Think You Can Dance, it was the Tahitian dance night. M was enraptured watching it, finally he said, 'Mom, look at her bum!', nothing but awe expressed in his tone.

I went out to frozen yogurt with my OC girls, it was totally bizarre to be the person in the group with the oldest children. Most of my girls are around my same age, but either started their families later or got married later than I did. It was a strange feeling.

I used to think that my mom was B-O-R-I-N-G when she watched Masterpiece Theater on PBS, but now I see her logic. Everything is better with a British accent (I'm surprised you didn't know that).

Sitting at the dinner table and heard this coming down the stairs from the bathroom: 'I did it! I went poop! It's coming out! My bum is dancing! Dancing! Dancing!'

M reading Hezekiah: 'And it came to pass that Boba Fett was a good guy.'

There are phrases that I thought I would ever say, and was positive that if I did say them, it wouldn't be more than once per day. One such phrase: Take your hands out of your pants.

There are two things are the horizon right now. A want and a need. The thing I want, I want it desperately, and the thing I need I also want, but not quite as desperately. They can't both happen at the same time. I think I know Heavenly Father's answer, but it's my need and does not have an immediate gratification factor. I'm frustrated. I sometimes feel like Jonah, running away from the lesson rather than doing what I'm asked and trusting the Lord. Why do I fight the things I'm supposed to be learning? Struggling against the currents and feel like I'm drowning along the way, instead of floating on my back with them and letting the lessons and oxygen come easily.

The songs, 'Where It's At?', by Beck, 'Last Goodbye', by Jeff Buckley, 'Kiss' by Prince and anything by George Michael, always make me want to sing and shake my booty, two of the things that I'm sure my fellow gym goers do not want me to do.

The thing I love most about my new to me car is that it looks expensive, but we got it for a steal! I am a girl who loves a bargain.

Happy 7th Birthday E!

E turned 7 years old today! It feels so strange to know that on his NEXT birthday he will have the opportunity to get baptized.

He is growing so big, and I am so proud of the good person he is, for the good choices he makes, and the joy that he brings to our family.

Love this picture

This is his daddy's boy through and through.

My Nephew

My nephew Jacob (E's most favorite person in the wide-world) is an amazingly talented 8 year old. He is in a YouTube contest to win $100 and recognition from Jon Schmidt for playing the song Road Trip (by Jon Schmidt). He needs to get as many hits as possible to win. Check him out he is awesome!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK4dOOUln4E.

Free

Who said couponing wasn't worth it? I paid not one penny for the following:



































Take that nay-sayers!

Big Boy Bed

At 3 1/2 M finally got a big boy bed. He never climbed out of his bed and since there are no Gilbert babies joining us soon, we put it off for as long as our consciences allowed. But we finally decided now that he's potty trained he is probably ready for this next step. He has done really well, he's only fallen out 1 time and snuck downstairs after bed time 1 time. I have had to alarm clock train him because the new freedom has allowed him to get out of bed before 7am, which is an absolutely no-go for me. He has been great about waiting for the alarm to go off since I instituted that policy. My baby really is a big boy.

Jiu Jitsu

E had his first Jiu Jitsu tournament 2 weeks ago. He did awesome! He took his opponent down pretty quickly and dominated the whole time, but in the end he got 4th place. We were so proud of him that he worked hard and didn't give up. The most important part was he had a great time and learned how to be a good sport.

First Day of School 2010

Today was E's first day of first grade! He was so excited. About 3 weeks ago he told me that he missed school, he missed Andrew and lunch and recess and Science class.His new teacher is Miss Macdonald and lucky for him Andrew is in his class again this year!

Here's my handsome boy:

Big Bear 2010

We took our first family destination trip this August. We went up to Big Bear for three days and had a super time. I found a house that was in Sugarloaf which is just outside of Big Bear Lake City. It cost $50/night with a $50 flat cleaning fee. It was perfect, a little bit in the woods, it had 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room and kitchen, so I was able to bring food for meals and not have to eat out for every meal. We did eat at the really yummy hamburger restaurant called Get the Burger, it's basically In-n-Out on steriods. Locally owned, and cash only. The owner actually made our milk shakes for us. It was worth the calories.

The first day we went to the Alpine Slide and went down it 3 times, we all loved it. It's a bit pricey and addicting, so it could be very expensive if you got out of control.

M isn't tall enough to go down by himself, but he still loved it.

The chair lift ride up was almost as fun as the slide itself. On the way up M and I saw that someone had lost a shoe, M said, "That's okay, Buzz Lightyear will save it."

It rained the first afternoon we were there but the boys had a great time playing in it anyway. It was very reminscent of the monsoon in AZ, reminded me of home, without the heat.

The second day we were there we took a little hike in the woods and M picked up some souvenirs. He has always loved rocks, specificially, throwing rocks. They were all effectively discarded by the time we got to the end of the trail. We saw probably 30 lizards all over the place on our little walk.

I know, white shorts, hiking? What was I thinking?

We went to the Moonridge Zoo. It's a tiny zoo, but well worth the admission price. They have 6 bears, a wolf pack, a snow leopard, and this mountain lion, as well as several other animals. M is being a mountain lion as well.

E's favorite animal was the bald eagle. You can't tell by the expression on his face but he loved looking at these birds.

We took the boys to a petting zoo/pony rides. Both boys were grinning ear to ear the entire time they were on the pony (named Tiger).

M shocked me that he actually pet the goats and pigs, I thought for sure he would run screaming, but we has super brave. (I'm holding the cup up high because there was one goat that was exceptionally tall and would snatch anything out of your hands if given the opportunity).

Our last day there we went up to the top of the ski slopes to do some exploring. E loves to climb rocks. When he takes a break from jiu jitsu we're going to put him in a rock climbing class. He is a pro.