Family Home Evening

I found a great FHE in preparation for Conference next week(click here to see). It was fun and the kids really got it. I highly recommend it if you get a chance before Saturday. We didn't have mini marshmallows so we played Jenga for the activity. She also has some links for fun conference packets and another FHE lesson which we will be doing before Saturday as well.

Family night has been so fun lately. I used to have such a hard time with it because it is so difficult to get the kids to hold still and listen, but then I realized that FHE is so much more than that. It is a time for the family to be together, to feel loved and be a part of something special, and bring the spirit into our home. Now we make it more fun and emphasize being together. For the lesson I just try to keep their attention and adjust to their needs. The kids love it and look forward to it every time now.

After we open with a prayer and song we started a new tradition. We bring out the little stool
from our bathroom and everyone gets a turn to stand on it. When it is their turn they get on it and everyone talks about all the good things that person did this week. They are just beaming when we talk about them. For example, "This week Eden got 5 reading lessons done, she is getting really good at reading!" or "Dallin helped Daddy clean out Mommy's van, that made me so happy, thanks Dallin!" The kids usually say things like "I like how you play with me" or something like that. Then everyone gives that person a high five. Before they get down they get to do a dance on the stool while everyone claps and chants "Dance, dance, dance....." and everyone laughs. This really sets a warm, loving tone to the even

I have used lots of ideas for lessons including, the church's FHE manual, the Primary 2 manual(easy and already geared for little ones), then I bought a book with lessons and printouts already made, the Gospel Art Kit, and of course so many great ideas on the internet like Here , Here, Here(The Church's lesson site), and Here. These have all worked well for us, it is fun to try different things.

Fishing Day

Peter found out about this free fishing derby for kids so we woke up bright and early on Saturday and drove about an hour to get there. Free t-shirts, fishing poles/gear, a pond loaded with fish, and free lunch, can't beat that.

Dallin caught a catfish





squirmy thing!


Letting it go. We aren't really fish people and I am definitely not in the mood to gut a fish.


My little fisherman. He was the most into the activity as usual. He insisted on casting his own line and and did a great job.


Let's see what happens when you put a real worm AND a fake worm on the hook!


You're funny Daddy.


Eden catching her fish. Look at that pole bend.



Gotcha!




Wow, look at that big mouth.


Eden, was scared of it even though it was her fish.

More from Tanner

Okay, I can't stop quoting him, he is so funny!

(driving in the car on my birthday)

Dallin: Is it still your birthday mom?
Me: Yes, Dallin it is still September 25th.
Dallin: I was born in June.
Peter: I was in March.
Eden: When was I born?
Me: January.
Tanner: I was born in Ice Cream!!!

How to celebrate turning 30...

After much family discussion on what kind of birthday party we should have for Mommy, the kids all voted and you guessed it, Chuck E Cheese! I always wanted one of those. The kids have been so excited about my birthday for some reason so I decided that we should really make it fun for them.

We even brought the cake and presents with us. I loved every dollar store present that the kids picked out for special just for me. Some of my great gifts were twisty straws, plastic flowers(Dallin was very cute about getting me flowers), and some of those capsules you put in water and they turn into spongy little animals, score! To top it off I did get the new computer program, pancake skillet, and step ladder that I wanted.

It was a very fun birthday filled with lots of hugs and kisses and giggles.


So far I love being 30. I feel so mature, right! My 20s were great and now I can take all my experiences and make my fresh new decade even better. Between 20 and 30 I finished school, got married, and had 4.8 kids. It has been a lot of hard work, but oh so worth it. I don't know what the future holds, but I would guess that we will move home, raise the beautiful family that we have been blessed with, and become more established. I think good things are ahead.
I want to enjoy every moment of my life at every age, life is good!

Little Artists

What happens when Daddy brings home a hundred giant blueprint pages?
(Blueprints are actually white)


You turn them over and have many hours of fun with paint and coloring!


from self portraits...



to rainbows,













and a 3 year old that still gets paint all over his face, clothes, and chairs.

Just thought this was funny

“Never, never, interrupt me, okay? Not if there’s a fire, not even if you hear the sound of a thud from my home and one week later there’s a smell coming from there that can only be a decaying human body and you have to hold a hanky to your face because the stench is so thick that you think you’re going to faint. Even then, don’t come knocking.”

-Jack Nicholson in AS GOOD AS IT GETS

3 year olds say the best stuff!

Conversations with Tanner are just cracking me up lately. Here is another one:

Tanner: Mommy!
(crouches down on the ground pulling his shirt to the floor so that he is inside it)
Me: Yes?
Tanner:I'm a rock!
Me: Oh, thats cool!
Tanner: You can pick me though.
Me: I see. (I reach down and pick him up as he stays crouched in a ball)
Tanner: (breaking out of his ball) Now I am not a rock anymore, I'm just Tanner!(I didn't respond quick enough so he repeated this last line in a loud defensive tone)

Oh, and here is a picture of Tanner a couple of weeks ago with the biggest goose egg ever! We were in the grocery store and I was picking out pancake syrup. Tanner was running up and down the isle behind me. All of the sudden I heard a huge WHACK! The poor kid wasn't watching where he was going and ran right smack into one of the corners of our cart! It was loud. Its hard to capture such a thing in a picture, but he really looked deformed for the rest of the day, it was huge!

Sky Coaster

I made this video back in August right after Dallin went on the Sky Coaster, but my movie maker went crazy and I finally fixed it. It was something about a Codec, whatever that means! Anyway, Dallin begged to go on this all summer and so we finally let him. I am not sure who was more excited between Peter and Dallin though. I really believe that part of the reason Peter loves having kids is so that he can still be one. Dallin was such a brave little guy. The video is cute, but I was trying to watch at the same time so this is not my best camera work. Dallin definitely has the Dickinson thrill seeking genes. I really dislike the blogger video uploader so I finally switched to youtube. Now my videos will be much better quality and you can even click on full screen. Enjoy!

Precious Moments

Every night when we have our family prayer we have a tradition of doing hugs after. Someone will yell "time for hugs!" and then we will start our simple sing-song chant "Everyone hug _______..." repeated a couple of times. We go through every family member individually. That person gets piled on with hugs and kisses. It is so fun and everyone feels important and loved. So lately we started adding my belly into the mix. At some point in the routine someone will say "Everyone hug the new baby" but not in a yell like the others, it is much more reverent and gentle as are the hugs. They all take turns hugging my belly and then they add in things like "We love you baby!" and "We can't wait for you to come to our family!" These kids can be so sweet. They pray for the baby every day too. This little girl is already a part of our group.

Burn Relief

Tanner reached up and touched the stove with his finger while I was making lunch today, poor guy. I made an interesting discovery however for little kids and burns. We have a cute ice pack, but he had a hard time holding onto it and it warmed up after a few minutes resulting in a very whiny sad boy. Then I wrapped an ice cube in a diaper wipe and it was just too cold for him to hold. Sad boy returned so I gave him a cup with about an inch of cool water for him to put his hand into and put Sesame Street on for a distraction. It worked way better than the other stuff I tried. He is just sitting there and wiggling his hand in the water. He is doing fine now and doesn't seem to feel the pain anymore. So now I know, water is more manageable than ice for burned little fingers!

Tanner Quote

Tanner: "Mommy, is iwanas alligators?"

Me: "What?"

Tanner: "Is iwanas ALLIGATORS?"

Mommy interpretation sets in (are iguanas the same as alligators?)

Me: "oh, no honey, iguanas are different from alligators."

Tanner: "oh okay"

Where does he get this stuff?

Dreams

I haven't posted a lot about this pregnancy so after I had a funny dream last night I thought I would write about it.

I always have very strange dreams about pregnancy, birth and babies when I am expecting, and last night was definitely weird. I was going to be induced but instead of going to the hospital I went to Target. There were tons of other moms there for the same reason so we all waited for our turn. When it was finally my turn I had to go see Martha Stewart and show her my bag of baby clothes and which outfit I was planning to bring the baby home in. I had all of these odd pieces that were not cute. I finally pieced together something that made Martha happy so I was allowed to go to my room to be induced. The only room left had a broken bed so they told me that I would have to go home. I was so sad so I went out and bought a Suburban because they told me I could have the baby in the parking lot if I had a car that I could lie down in! So odd I know, but at least it wasn't a giving birth dream, those ones can be downright crazy.

Strange dreams aside I have been very blessed this pregnancy. I was in pretty good shape to begin with which I think made the difference. I also found some prenatals that I really like and have helped with many symptoms. After my fourth pregnancy I was worried, because it was a lot harder than the first three. I was pretty miserable most of the 9 months. This time has been more like the first couple of times. Either that or I am just getting used to things like constant heartburn, tossing and turning all night, bone pain and such and can ignore it. I am still pretty comfortable although I know that will probably only last a couple more weeks. The only strange thing that has happened was when I went to my last appointment I hadn't gained any weight for a whole month. My belly was the right size though so I guess it is fine. Maybe it balances out all the extra pounds that I packed on in the first few months.

With 4 little ones to manage I try to save all of my energy for them and really limit what else I am willing to do. I also try to go to bed early because I know I won't get much of a chance to nap during the day. I usually sleep about 9 hours and that really helps. The house is maintained, but I purposely tell myself that I can let a few things go so that I won't feel stressed out. I also don't go out much, but really I would rather be home where I am cool and comfortable anyway. I am definitely taking advantage of the situation and just taking it easy and enjoying my kids. I don't know how I could do it and have a healthy pregnancy otherwise.

Whenever Peter and I talk about having another baby, I make it really clear that there is no way I can possibly do this unless he is ready to pitch in a lot too. He always agrees of course. Every night lately Peter comes home and cleans the kitchen, helps with kids, takes them for a bike ride if I need a break, and even makes dinner(that's new!) I really don't think we could have all of these kids in such a short time without such a hands on daddy. I think he is a lot like his dad that way. Love you Peter.

Now, with such a big reminder right in front of me, I am getting excited to get through the next few weeks and have another sweet little baby to kiss. I wish she could just come now, it is worse than waiting for Christmas. There is something about being in that last part where you can see the finish line that makes it so hard to wait any longer. Come on November!

Air Museum

Not to be confused with the airshow, this was a museum Peter took the kids to the week before. I don't have much commentary since I wasn't there, but it looks like they enjoyed it.

The diaper lull

I realized that haven't had any funny potty training/poop stories in a long time. I must say it is so nice. We only have one child in diapers at the moment which would seem to be a huge relief. It is I suppose, but this particular kid makes a lot of dirty diapers. I feel like I am changing as many as when we had 3 in diapers! Oh well, I will just try to enjoy this short time before we have 2 in diapers again.

On another random note, I love to hear my kids sing as they play. Peter taught them the song "I'm My Own Grandpa" of all things. It is so funny to hear little Tanner or Eden singing that as they busily go about their day. I have also heard Eden singing "Yankee Doodle". Before this it was the song "All Star". Dallin liked to yell that one at the top of his lungs and he would just make up any words that he didn't understand. I noticed that even Carter tries to sing songs a lot. I can really tell he is trying anyway.

Airshow

Peter was dying to take the kids to the airshow on Saturday. I feel bad that I dragged my feet about going, it turned out to be really fun. We set up our chairs and watched the show for hours. The kids did great watching, covering their ears, eating ice cream, and playing in the dirt. Dallin was by far the most animated about the whole thing, he was in heaven. I really enjoyed taking pictures. The weather was nice and cool in the 80's and mostly cloudy. It was perfect that it wasn't too bright to watch the sky and I wasn't too hot (the heat keeps me in hibernation a lot lately).


Army truck.





Crazy dude on stunt plane.


I just love ice cream pictures, there is just something about childhood innocence there.














Dallin and Tanner utilized their popsicle sticks as airplanes for the rest of the day. I love imagination.


Brothers just hanging out.





My favorite shot of the day! These are the Thunderbirds(like the Blue Angels), the stars of the show.
I told Peter he is in so much trouble if Dallin grows up and wants to be a stunt pilot, it was kinda scary to watch sometimes. I think the kids will remember this day, it was a great time.

Food for Thought

Not too long ago a friend asked me what my thoughts were on food budgeting. I threw a few things out that I like to do so I thought I would share. Anyone have any other great ideas?

Here is what I said:

I do have lots of thoughts on that subject, we are always trying to save money. First of all I try to stay away from the expensive "nice" stores like Safeway since I don't use coupons. If they bag your groceries for you it is not the place for me. Luckily they have Winco here, but I am sure there is something similar where you live. Maybe a Food Max, or super Wal-Mart or something. I swear it cuts the bill in half right away.

Next, I am an avid meal planner, I plan our dinners for a week and make my list from that. I usually plan 2 or 3 breakfasts and lunches than can be repeated. Then I just stick to my list and don't grab any extra stuff. If I don't go there hungry it isn't too hard. I know well how much milk and bananas and bread we go through in a week though so I don't really put it on my list, I just have that kind of stuff memorized. I think these first two things alone save the most. I usually spend about $100 a week for our family of 6 and that is California prices. If I am really careful, it can even be less some months. When we lived in oregon and there were 4 of us, I did it for $50 a week somehow.

Another thing I try to do is plan one or two vegetarian meals a week, like rice and beans or whole wheat pasta type stuff. Those meals are usually pretty cheap so it saves a lot. I feel like we are following the WOW more that way too.

I also have a Costco membership mainly for diapers, but there are a few things that just come out cheaper there. Not a lot of things, but I do like the price and quality of their frozen chicken breasts, frozen lean ground beef, and pork loin roasts. I like to buy frozen strawberries there too because we love smoothies.

I don't know if it saves a lot of money or not, but I stopped buying crackers and cookie type snacks for the kids a few months ago and it has been great. They just lived on them too much. Now they snack on more nutritious things like grapes, applesauce, raisins and yogurt. It seems better to spend our valuable grocery budget on nutrition rather than empty calories. I really try to shop with that mentality.

Another little trick I started doing lately is with cheese. I love cheddar cheese but we go through a lot of it and it is expensive and high in fat. I bought a little fine hand grater and started buying sharp or extra sharp which has a stronger flaver. When I cook I use less of it since has so much flavor. A 2lb brick lasts about twice as long!

Left overs are great too. I make large dinners and there is usually enough for a lunch the next day. That way Peter doesn't have to eat out or take an expensive freezer meal or whatever else.

2 things I haven't done that are on my some day list are using coupons and weekly farmers market trips for fresh produce. I dream of having a huge garden some day as well but those are just on my list of things to try for now.

500th Post

I meant to make a big deal out of my 500th blog post. Then I realized that not only did I never come up with a good idea, I missed it by one post.

So this is to celebrate number 501! Since I am not feeling too clever, I will just blog about blogging over the last 3 years.

When we got married I set out to figure out the very best, economical, and practical way to preserve pictures and memories. I love scrapbooks, but I can't narrow down pictures, want to write way too much and am pretty cheap. So for the first couple of years I meticulously put our pictures into plain old Costco photo albums in order with the year on the spine and numbered the negatives. Thank goodness digital came along! Once we joined the digital era, I created a nice little filing and labeling system on my computer but continued to order prints about every 6 months for my albums. The only big problem was that I was not journal anything about the pictures or our lives.

I wished for more until I found out about blogging. This was exactly what I was looking for, it had everything; pictures, journal, no mess, I could print a book each year, and it was free! To add to that our relatives and friends could read our updates.

That was still just the beginning for me. Blogging is one of my favorite hobbies now because I feel that it is something worth putting time into as it preserves our memories, but it is also something I feel like I do for myself. I realized that I love to write about my life. Like a journal, it is somehow an outlet for me to see things with humor and appreciate little moments in life. It makes me feel like I have a great life since I can easily leave out those crazy, overwhelmed, messy, unorganized days. Those MUST not exist then, ha! Or I can write about challenges and see the positive learning experiences in them. If you haven't had an experience and thought to yourself, hmm that is going to make a great post, you aren't a true blogger. Why else would you think to grab a camera at those times when you normally wouldn't? At first I didn't blog that often, but I eventually became totally hooked. Peter teases me that its just a phase, wink. After 3 years and 501 posts I think it is here to stay for me. It is not something I usually have to put on a to do list, I just love to do it.

Now I like to go back and read posts from years past. I never would have remembered most of those things, at least in so much detail. I treasure each post and love the blog books. Here's looking forward to post 1000!

Priorities

"Your house is a toy box until the kids are in kindergarten."

-Dr. Laura Schlessinger


Ha, I love it! I may have to frame it.

Labor Day Fun

Since Peter had the day off, we decided to take the kids to Lake Tahoe for the day and hang out at the beach there. There are a few things about going to a lake instead of the ocean that we actually really liked. First of all, the waves stay put so we put our towels down right up to the water and never had to run for it. Second, it was not the warmest water but much warmer than the ocean. Third, there were not creepy crawly things everywhere and I didn't have to nurse my irrational fear of getting eaten by sharks. I LOVE the ocean, but this was a nice change and was very manageable with our littles. We were really laid back about this trip and did not rush to do anything. We just enjoyed being a family which made it totally low stress and fun. Our kids are just so funny, Peter and I just laughed all day at how their little minds work. Kids are great entertainment. As usual, I had a hard time narrowing down the pictures.









































These next few pictures show the progression of Dallin breaking free of being burried.




















Peter's turn to be buried.





Carter kept being an ostrich and sticking his head in the sand all day. It was so hilarious.

No maternity bathing suit pictures of me, not a chance. I promise I was really there.