find joy in the journey

11.20.09

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON trailer

LOVE the new look!  And the werewolf transformation? . . . . (gasp!)

the kids - spring '09

Conner @ 8 years

• reading The Chronicles of Narnia series on your own - on book 5 or 6
• loving the piano and doing really well at it.  Memorizing songs on your own, writing music, and remembering to practice 2x everyday.
• you keep asking me, "what kind of jobs are there for kids to make money?"
• you also keep asking me, "when can I learn to cook?"  
• got the super stealth ninja moves.  We'll be watching tv at night and somehow you've made it down the stairs and end up laying in the hallway, or behind the couch (!) and we don't even know it.
• at night you sit in bed and watch the neighbor boys through the window who are still outside playing on their scooters, and wish you could join them.  Just be happy you have a mom & dad who care enough to give you a bedtime. :) 

Payton @ 6 years

• love to ride the scooter around the circle - and getting very speedy at it.
• reading so well - your take-home reading papers, a verse in the scriptures each morning, and Fox in Socks on the way to school.
• has the best, neatest handwriting - I'm always so impressed by your school papers.
• your laugh.  I need to get it on video tape because it is something else.  Sounds like a cross between a chipmunk and someone hyperventilating.
• Sunday mornings + Animal Planet's Funniest Animals + Payton's hysterical, gut-wrenching laughter = the best show in town
• will never turn down a good tickle.  If someone else is getting tickled you excitedly get in line and beg for your turn.

 

Anna @ 3 years

• drawing pictures of our family, and dora, and llamas all morning while watching Nick Jr., and then you ask me to make copies on our scanner/printer.
• nightmares - at least once a week you wake up in the middle of the night crying or screaming.  So sad!  Sometimes the scary dreams are about bugs on the ceiling, or someone trying to hit you.  You've got lots of crazy sleeping habits - talking in your sleep, "seeing" things that aren't really there but convinced they are real, you've even walked to the bathroom & flushed the toilet in your sleep.
• thanks to the Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD you're learning your letter sounds.  
• discovered that you have hips and decided that your hands need to be there all the time.
• love to give kisses, all. the. time.  
• you've got this thing for ribbons.  Always asking me to cut you a piece of ribbon to carry around.

our backyard: formerly known as "the pine cone mine field"

remember this?

Yes, it all started last spring when the two giant trees went timber!  Then in August the sod went bye-bye with the help of a rented sod cutter and a lot rolling, hauling, and dusty, dirty little helpers.  September brought the sprinkler system of Scott's dreams and brand new gorgeous, green sod.  In March my dad worked mow strip wonders around the flower beds.  And in April & May I have been busy planting away.

I wasn't planning to have a reveal for a while longer, until we brought in the bark mulch to make it look more polished.  Scott said he wasn't planning on doing that until the fall (september-ish).  So, imagine my surprise when I came home from the fabric store a few Saturdays ago, the truck was in the garage, the boys were just home from the father-son camp-out . . . . I walked in, everything was unloaded, everyone was bathed and clean, and . . . . I had beautiful bark in all of my flower beds!  What a great surprise!

So without further ado . . . . 

Even though the plants are still small, I can "see" their potential in my mind.  I find myself just tickled looking at the window, imagining what it's going to look like in another year.

Here are a few more angles:

along the back

by the patio (dogwood and lavender)

the back of the house (blueberry bushes in front of the A/C, my garden!, and hydrangea bushes - one is struggling to survive)

And a few close-ups:

Last year we had pine cones on top of, embedded in, and under (yes, under) the grass.  The kids had to wear shoes when they played outside because it just hurt to much to walk on the grass.  But this year we can finally enjoy barefoot bliss.

now we can run in the sprinklers

lay in the grass

and generally have a great time in comfort.

 

 

craft happy

Saturday I entered a store where the employees were happy and more than willing to help me out . . . . the customers smiled at each other . . . people commented on how good (and cute) Anna was . . . I was complimented on my parenting . . . pleasant women with names like "Joy" cut my fabric and rang me up . . . a general air of happiness permeated the place.  A crafter's utopia.  Ahhh . . .  Like Pres. Uchtdorf says, creativity brings happiness.  :)

This weekend I crafted a bit . . .

I found the tutorial for the necklaces here.  If you click, be careful, she has lots of fun projects to share and it just might eat up your afternoon.  And I purchased the glass tiles, bails, and chains from Candy Tiles's etsy shop.  She has a plethora of great combo packs if you'd like to make a bunch of them.  Trust me, you will.

And trust me, you'll want to make this dessert.

My mom's friend, Sandi, made it for lunch after Mason's mission farewell.  When she brought it out, everyone seriously hovered over the counter, vying for position to ensure they got a slice.  Sooo good.

Crust:  2 cups ground gingersnap cookies (about 38 cookies), 2 Tbsp Sugar, 1/3 cup butter

In a medium bowl combine ground cookies & sugar with a pastry blender.  Add butter and mix until moist clumps form.  Press mixture into bottom and sides of 10" removable bottom tart pan.  Bake 8 minutes or until lightly browned.  Let cool.

Filling:  8 oz. cream cheese (softened), 1/4 cup sugar, 2 tsp lemon juice, 1/2 cup whipping cream

Combine cream cheese, sugar & lemon juice with electric mixer.  Add whipping cream & beat at high speed until light and fluffy.  Spread in tart shell and chill several hours.

Arrange fruit (strawberries, blueberries, kiwi, oranges, red or green grapes, raspberries, blackberries, etc.) on top of chilled filling.  Combine 1/4 cup Smuckers apricot preserves with 1 Tbsp water and brush over top.  (Makes it look shiny & scrumptious).

in the dirt

1 - red sunset maple
1 - bradford flowering pear
2 - newport flowering plum
2 - himalayn birch
3 - el dorado california liac
4 - green mountain boxwood
1 - zuni crape myrtle
3 - double knock out rose, red
1 - miss kim lilac
1 - corkscrew willow
3 - daylily, 2 pink, 1 yellow
3 - autumn fire sedum
1 - stellar pink dogwood
4 - aurinia capacta "basket of gold"
3 - provence lavender
2 - hydrangea - nikko blue and sister theresa (white)
3 - scabiosa - pincushion flower
1 - lady orchid peony
1 - midknight blue agapanthus

also

1 - cucumber

1 - zuchini

2 - peas

2 - pole beans

1 - tomato

2 - blueberry bushes

bell pepper seeds

finger carrot seeds

sunflower seeds

pumpkin seeds

zinnia seeds

african daisy seeds

cosmo seeds

hopefully my trips to the nursery are over, everything will bloom & grow (I gave all my plants a little pep talk as I nestled them in the dirt), and I will enjoy a beautiful yard this summer.

three little hearts

sunday afternoon I sat on the couch chatting with my mom and comparing notes on how mother's day had gone.  I found out that she had spent the day alone, my dad was out on the fires, and had a simple lunch of radishes and strawberries from the garden.  Mine was filled with the busy-ness of baking (see previous post), doing sharing time and conducting in Primary both hours, and other commitments.  Not my usual mo-day routine, which usually includes banishing myself from the kitchen, a nap, and maybe reading.  But that was okay.  And she was okay.  We concluded that not all mother's days get to be perfect.

What does matter is that you have kids who love you, and who take the time to let you know it.

 

6:30am and the kids were on my bed, anxious for me to open the gifts they sprawled upon my lap.  So anxious, in fact, that Anna told me the contents of each item before I opened them.  Like, a new supply of my delicious salon shampoo.  And this necklace,

{there is a P charm, it's just hiding}

 

Just lovely.  Every time Payton snuggles next to me he touches it, smiles, and says, "that's a great necklace" or "it has a 'p' and an 'a' - those are both letters in my name" or "I really like my name on your necklace."  I think he is pretty tickled that I would wear something that honors him.  It's the little things, I guess.

 

A card from Conner:

Is it mufers day?  NO!  It's mothers day!

We've put him through intense "th" training with his daily take-home reading papers (although you have to give the kid a break - he had no front teeth for his entire 1st grade year when they were mastering this), so I think this joke is in reference to that.  He's finally conquered the "th's", so now he can joke about it.

 

Then there's the hot pad from Cub Scouts.  I assumed it was a hot pad, but Conner thinks I should use it as a pillow.  

Oh you have to hand it to the cub scout leaders . . . . being subjected to 8-10 year old boy humor every week. My hat is off to you!

 

Then Payton suddenly remembered, "I have a present for you!" and ran out of the room.  He returned with this.  

So sweet!  He obviously made it ahead of time - probably the night before when Scott & I were out on our date. 

 

And one more from Conner . . . something he painted at school

I love it!  It's a picture of me reading to the boys at night while they lay in their beds.  This is something we've started in the last couple months.  We recently finished The Girl Who Could Fly (which was great).  The boys sooo look forward to this and are really disappointed if I have to be gone for a meeting.  On Mother's Day one of the speakers in church talked for a moment about the importance and value of mothers reading to their children.  It was a great reminder, something to make me feel good about what we are doing.  So, I also love all the little details in this picture - 3 blankets on Payton, their banks (with note that there is $26 in Conner's) and R2-D2 on the dresser, and even the drawing on the cover of the book matches the actual book cover.

 

One last moment of motherhood joy . . . . the kids sang in sacrament meeting with the rest of the Primary and I went up to the stand to help usher, make sure everyone's heads were visible, etc..  When they finished I stood by the stairs as they all came down.  When Conner got there he leaned over and gave me a big kiss.  After it happened I realized he smooched me right in front of the entire congregation.  What a sweetheart!  

 

I am so thankful to be a mother.  I am blessed with such amazing kids.  And I know that they love me as evidenced by their fighting over who gets to sit by mom at dinner each night. :)  It is work, and it is tiring, but I wouldn't have my life any other way.

33, celebrated 3 ways

So how do you celebrate a 33rd birthday, when said birthday also happens to land on Mother's Day?  Turn it into a 3-day long birthday party!

day 1:  the birthday party

 

Scott was surprised (I think) to come home from work on Friday to find the house decked out in streamers, balloons, and a pile of gifts on the kitchen counter.  The plan was to hide and yell "surprise!" but he decided to come home early and so we were away at that moment, picking up Conner from school.  Luckily, I had assigned the kids to streamer duty before school.

for months, the kids have been randomly going up to Scott and asking him what he wants for his birthday.  Like, since way back in September.  And his answer has always been, "cheese."  And so, the kids have been telling me for weeks that we need to get dad cheese for his birthday.  His wish was granted in the form of easy cheese, or as the kids call it "melted cheese.".  And 2 more cans on his actual birthday.

 

Crazy.  I know.  And the cherry on top . . . a birthday haircut from me!  :)

Birthday dinner:  chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and gravy.

For dessert:  chocolate caramel goodness

day 2:  the birthday date

dads deserve birthday dates too, right?  We went into town to Scott's favorite Hawaiian restaurant and managed to stuff ourselves.  Then to the movie theater for . . . Star Trek.  Scott owns all the Star Trek movies and watches Next Generation and Voyager on a regular basis.  As much as he loves Star Wars, he loves Star Trek even more.  As for a review - 2 thumbs up!  I really liked it too.  Growing up, we had several Star Trek movies in our family movie collection, and The Wrath of Khan probably had the most showings.

Our date truck dashboard cam:

day 3:  the actual birthday

After waking up bright and early (6:30am) and being bombarded with my mother's day presents (a post later) I headed down to the kitchen to make the banana cake.  Or, as Payton & Scott now like to call it "Panana Cake."  

The highlight of the afternoon definitely had to be the giving of birthday spanks.  We divided it up so all the kids got to bestow 11 spanks upon their father.  The kids were talking about it all day, so excited at the opportunity to dish it out on dad.  Oh, it makes me laugh just thinking about it!  Conner determined the order Anna-Payton-Conner for small-medium-and hard spanks and there was talk of preparing ice packs for dad's bum.  Anna started us out, and then Payton . . . oh my goodness I thought about getting the video camera out, but it was just too fun to watch.  With Scott laying on the floor, Payton crouched and then jumped up with all his might and came down with his hand swinging.  Over and over again.  We were all laughing uncontrollably.  Oh, such a good time.

Happy 33 years babe!  

a tale of 3 bathrooms: part one

This is part one in, hopefully, a 3-part bathroom rejuvenation project.  Why?  Well,

1. we had the interior of the house painted before moving in.  It all happened really quick so I didn't have the time (or mental energy) to come up with the exact colors I wanted for every room.  So almost everything got the same color (Harvest Brown from Behr, I think).  It's a color I like in most of the house, but in the bathrooms . . . . I feel like I'm in a cave.
2. Also due to the speedy (3-day) house painting job, some rooms did not get the prep treatment they really needed.  Like, primer.  And from day one of living in the house I began to notice what looked like water-drip lines slowly seeping through the paint.  It's really bad in the bathrooms, so I've resolved to systematically priming & painting the bathrooms one by one.   

For my first project I tackled the kids' bathroom.  They really needed something more colorful and fun.  I did most of this room last August, and just recently completed some of the details.

Before:

and after:

what I did:

new paint (and primer) -- Poolside (Pottery Barn color)

remove the towel bar and hang hooks

new shower head

new shower rod

new baseboards

sew a shower curtain

hang up kids' artwork

add a vinyl quote to the wall and mirror

More before pictures.  See, it's a cave I tell 'ya.

And more delightful after pictures.

I found these 11x14 white frames at a craft store for $5.  The artwork didn't quite fill the frame so I cut some posterboard to 11x14 and painted it orange with a foam brush.  Just mount the artwork on top and it made a quick, easy, and colorful mat.

I love, love, love how this vinyl quote worked out.  President Hinckley's ever popular 6B's and I emphasized "be clean" here, and again on the mirror just above the sink.  It goes perfectly in a bathroom, and hopefully it will give them something to think about when they are getting ready.  That is, if I could get them to brush their teeth for longer than 20 seconds.  This quote is about 5-6 feet wide -- it was a little interesting to center and level on the wall.

And my other favorite part of the bathroom . . . the shower curtain!

This fabric was the color inspiration for the whole bathroom.  And I can't tell you how excited I was to find that ball fringe.  Love it!  I purchased all the fabric at my mother-in-law's favorite quilting store in Idaho. To hang the shower curtain I sewed button holes with my machine, and the shower rings slide right on through.  

Currently, bathroom number 2 has paint swatches on it's walls.  I'm quite undecided about the color.  This bathroom is even more of a cave (smaller, less light) so I think I need to keep it bright and airy.  My goal is to have a second bathroom reveal for you by the end of the summer.  I'm a realist so I know where to set my personal expectations. :) 

fun with photobooth

the separation surgery is scheduled for later this summer.

But I don't think there is anything modern medicine can do for this:

have a great day!

that built-in camera thingy

So I'm slowly learning the ropes of my new iMac.  I really haven't had the time I would like to devote to the transfer of power.  I've set up my internet bookmarks, installed Adobe PSE6, and that's about it.  Right now I'm in dual computer mode, sitting here with both of them on, going back and forth.  The Mac is definitely more fun to use.  But the old computer still has all my files and it's the one hooked up to the printer.  

But the one thing I've tinkered with is iMovie and the built-in camera thingy.  I think it's called iSight. Anna and I have had a bit of fun.  She loves seeing herself in action on the computer screen.  So here's a little something we put together this afternoon -- probably of more interest to the Grammers than anyone else.  Anna always requests "the emerald city song" (from Wicked) while driving in the car.  She loves it and will BELT IT OUT.  I think, though, in this video she was too preoccupied with watching herself to give the kind of performance we are used to hearing from her.

emerald city song from Shannon on Vimeo.

photo journal

a few things to remember:

Road-trip mode.  After lunch we threw all 3 kids in the back seat and let them play Nintendo 64 - they were in heaven.

 

Anna was in love with the wide open spaces.  Each time she ran to the treehouse, and back, her arms were outstretched at her sides like she was flying.  "the hills are alive . . ."  And don't you love the huge solar panels. 

 

speaking of the treehouse

For me, it was the first year I felt comfortable enough for the kids to run back & forth between the treehouse and the house-house without an adult chaperone (as long as Conner was there).  The boys loved this freedom and spent many hours in the Coyote House playing Nintendo 64.  Anna couldn't get enough of the swing.

The boys both got to ride the quad solo.  On Conner's practice drive with Papa he pulled on the throttle a little too quickly and sent both front tires into the air.  It was very exciting.

 

Easter egg hunt:  Carlee intensely coloring her bag; Anna with her loot; all the cousins.  I just love how all the Oregon kids are squinting in pain from the sunlight in their eyes.  And Carlee (a california girl) is looking at them like, "what is your problem?"

 

Grammer arranging the girls for a little picture.  I have a feeling that there will be many, many, many photo-ops like this over the years.  (Carlee and Anna are 7 months apart)

 

We celebrated Carlee's 3rd birthday a few days early with a pinata & the egg hunt & presents & cake.  Thankfully Heidi had made 2 cakes because the ants decided to take one of them hostage.  Here's Sam with Preston, and Carlee wearing her party ribbon (the girls wanted party hats, so we had to improvise). 

 

The Half-Hour Shower for Becca (it was a full weekend, you squeeze in what you can), followed by matching aprons for all the girls and cooking in the kitchen.  {me & mom.  Bree, Heidi, Becca}

 

Swimming in april.  More like hypothermia shock in april.  Mason made sure to impress the boys with his diving (big splash) skills, Anna & Payton just got their feet wet, Conner tried swimming but soon learned that was a mistake, and Scott decided that I needed to try out the water.  Good thing I was wearing a swimsuit under my clothes (we had just returned from another kayak race).

 

And no that's not child abuse.  Just one of those fun games dad invents to torture play with the kids. He swings them around in circles and allows the top of their heads to graze the water.  I love that Payton's hands are plastered to his face. 

One evening we cooked dinner at the firepit - hamburgers, hot dogs, and marshmallows.  The men are doing the roasting while the women sit back and partake of their chilvalry.  Conner has gotten really good at roasting marshmallows - he was my go-to man.

 

And trying to assemble the cousins for a picture on Sunday . . . . a daunting task.

 

the best I could get - definitely not lacking in personality.