Don't Worry - Be Happy

Kids were created so that I wouldn't have a lack of something to worry about. Being in charge of five brains along with my own is cause enough for daily worries. It's a good thing that they bring plenty of happy thoughts to make up for it.

Pictures that make me happy to be a mom....

Just smile La! Please.

Carrying our picnic lunch - don't worry Jarin, it will be lighter on the way back.

#1 reason Rebekah and Kerri think the dentist is the place to go.

A true gentleman carries his sister's pink and purple backpacks home each day after school.

Can we stop reading please?

Rule #101 - no reading at the dinner table.

I was told that the counter was not the dinner table.

Rule #102 - no reading while eating!

Finding Oreo in the garbage can.

Last but not least....

After a good deal of brotherly affectionate maneuvers downstairs, Trevor was guided to mom and dad's bed to go to sleep - this is what we found.

Mom: the ability to worry and be happy at the same time.

I'll take it!

Home-Loving

One evening, my wonderful neighbor surprised me with a generous bag of ripe peaches. The next day I rushed to a local farm to buy a box of raspberries. With two recipe books and the Internet as my guide, I created (all on my own for the very first time) two batches of canned raspberry/peach jam, one batch of freezer raspberry/peach jam and one batch of freezer raspberry/rhubarb jam (made just for my dad). Whoohoo! I was on a roll.

Later, a visit to my amazing sister-in-law who cans EVERYTHING ignited a home-loving feeling in me. I wanted to try my hand at canning peaches. I returned to the local farm to purchase two bushels of peaches. I had high expectations of myself that day. After 21 quarts of peaches and sticky floors, I started to wonder what the heck I was doing. I remained loyal to the last batch and came out with 42 quarts. I vowed not to can peaches again unless I got them for free or they came off of my yet to be planted peach trees. Two days of viewing my strenuous labor spread out on the table ultimately gave me back my home-loving feeling. Maybe I will do applesauce next month.

I am happy to see that our garden is toiling and producing with great effort as well.

Here we have some yummy red potatoes that have mutated and some are 'home-loving' too- oh dear.

Whose kid is that?

Kerri's favorite outfit... a rumpled up pink kitty shirt from the laundry basket (the dirty laundry basket) and a pair of torn pants.

That's my girl.

Urkel Alert

Remember Steve Urkel in the 90's comedy sitcom Family Matters?

Well, my kids didn't - until now.

At the present it's a toss up of who is the coolest nerd - Urkel or Napoleon Dynamite.

I vote for Napoleon.

Jarin as Steve Urkel.

Annoying? Yes - that's what brothers do.

Nerdy? Yes, in a good school way.

Snorts? No.

And so it begins....

Football Season

"They're here!" Jarin yelled as he tore open the big manila envelope that sheltered the long awaited U of U football season tickets.

One of Cameron's many aspirations for moving back to Utah was to become a true red season ticket holder to the Ute games (going on three years now) with his best friend Jason.

At the present, we are proud owners of two seats at the Rice-Eccles Stadium. Since Jason has kids the same age as ours, he and Cam unselfishly distribute one ticket seat for the kids and wives to fight over while keeping their one seat to themselves. It is a much celebrated date with dad when it's your turn to go to a game.

It's a great tradition that I am beginning to revel in myself. It won't be long before Jarin claims his own season seat all to himself. Until then, there is one seat on Halloween evening that is up for dibs.

Candy or U of U game?

Hmmmm...

That's a tough one.

Go Utes!

These are always my favorite pictures!

Go Utes! Go BYU!

School Days

Makayla - 8th Grade

This cute teenager has spoiled me.....

*I wake up each morning to her beautiful piano music.

*She is incredibly responsible and helpful.

*Not once have I had to tell her to do her homework since 4th grade.

I think I will keep her.

Jarin - 5th Grade

Trevor - 2nd Grade

As I drove the boys to their first day of school, the tears I never knew I had started escaping. What?! I've never cried in all of my mommy days of dropping kids off to school.

Jarin noticed and exclaimed, "Mom - don't get emotional! Roll up the windows, that's embarrassing!"

I reassured him that my sunglasses were enough cover to not put anyone to shame. Then I admitted that I would miss them and wished for more summer days.

Jarin promised that he and Trev would be home soon enough to cause trouble. I dropped them off, wiped my tears and drove home to await my two troubles.

Rebekah and Kerri started afternoon kindergarten a week later. This time the tears began to flow before I even reached the school. My ladybugs were leaving to school and their gigantic backpacks didn't even fit them - sniff sniff.

This was my final time of taking kids to their very first day of school - how did they grow up so fast?

My melancholy mood ended as I drove away to embark on my first day of freedom. I had anticipated this moment for a long time and I now had 2 1/2 hours to do whatever I wanted all by myself - yeah!

Half way into my first day of freedom, I was standing in the check out line admiring my purchases when my cell phone rang. It was Trevor's teacher asking me to consider putting Trev in the AM track. (Our school has 2 tracks - one group of kids start at 8:00 - Early Birds, the second group starts at 9:10 - Later Gators. This allows for small group teaching in the classroom.)

Knowing that this move would cut down my independence time, I deliberated for a whole 10 minutes and decided this would be a good idea.

Trevor's first day of being an Early Bird brought much peace to our morning - seeing that Jarin could focus on his morning routine without the display of brotherly affection interfering.

Trev came home 1 hour and 15 minutes earlier than the Later Gator crew and declared, "Mom, being an Early Bird is a great idea because you only have to be alone for 1 1/2 hours!"

I agree - I love our one-on-one time.

Rebekah and Kerri

Kindergarten

When I ordered the backpacks, Kerri announced that she wanted a pink backpack and Rebekah wanted a purple one - the good old switch- a- roo.

Who am I to tell them what colors to get?

Now to train the rest of the family.