It's ABOUT time.....

.....I quit slacking and write something! The top two reasons that I'm such a slacker with my blog are: 1) either there is NOTHING to write about or 2) there is so much to write about that I don't have time to write since things are so crazy! January fell under #1--boring, depressing, freezing,ect....then in February, life dramatically lurched into the #2 category! But I like crazy a lot better than boring/depressing! Here are some of the things that have kept us busy:

MONSTER CONCERT
I don't have any pictures yet (I know I have issues with forgetting my camera and I'm working on it) but I wanted to just document what a totally fun event this is! It's not your ordinary piano recital! Instead of ONE piano with ONE performer, they cram around 20 pianos on the stage and put 2 or 3 students on each one, all playing the same duet simultaneously! Duets are awesome anyway because you can take two pretty simple parts and put them together to make a much cooler, more difficult sounding song! But when you have 40+ people all playing the duet at the same time, it's just really LOUD and exciting and fun. Plus there is no nervousness about this recital--with that many students playing, one or two small mistakes will go un-noticed. Many of the students play a piece, take a bow, and then join another group and perform another piece. Besides all the fun just performing, you're treated to a lot of (cheesy) skits sporatically performed during the concert by a big hairy monster (thus the name) and other members of the USU YC staff. It's just a lot of fun and I just love it.

So as a child I performed in the Monster Concert every year, and now I watch my own students participate every year. I'm always just a tad jealous of them because I want to be up there on the stage having fun instead of watching! Well THIS year, I worked my way back up there. I volunteered to be a "beat keeper" (a person who helps the little short kids who can't see the conductor to follow the conductor's beat) so I did that for half of the time. But the other half (mostly on the most difficult pieces, which made it even more fun) my piano was empty so I got to join the piano majors and play along. It was like being a kid all over again!

I did miss seeing my students perform......and I especially missed seeing Madison perform....and then to top if off I forgot my camera! But I'm sure they all did great and there's always next year! I'll make sure I assign someone to be the photographer while I play with the kids up on the stage!


MATT'S WEDDING
No pictures again. (L-O-S-E-R) It was a really fun day! My mother and father in law flew in from Wyoming to join the festivities and it was really good to see them. Actually, all of Kelly's brothers/sister and their spouses were there in the temple for the wedding. It was so awesome to look around and see EVERYONE! I can't wait until my brothers get married (any day now.....) and we can all go to the temple together like that. It was a little piece of heaven.

My nephew Matt looked SOOOO happy, as did his new wife, Shula. We had a little luncheon afterwards and played with cousins until the reception. The church house (where the reception was held) was decorated beautifully. Matt and Shula took charge and planned almost everything, I heard. They knew what they were doing! They strung rows and rows of lights across the ceiling and then left all the other lights out....very romantic! They had floating candles on the tables that were lit, very pretty chair covers, the cake was beautiful, Shula looked beautiful, yummy ecclairs.....and the music suited the happy couple as well. It reminded me of the little bands that play on the cruise ships. Anyway, Dawn got lots of pictures. :) Good thing. Thanks for a fun day Matt and Shula (and Dawn)!

And finally, MADISON'S BIRTHDAY!
Wow, it has been a busy week for me and a fun one for Madison! First we had a Valentine's Dinner at my mom's house (which was very fun) and we celebrated Madi's birthday with my family. Then a couple days later, on her birthday, we had our own little party at home. She chose spaghetti, breadsticks, and salad for dinner. Then we had cake and ice cream, opened presents, etc. Keep in mind that the whole day was a party for her--at school she wore the birthday hat all day and her friends sang to her every chance they got.....so by the end of the night, I asked her, have you had a fun birthday? She looked tired, but said "The best one ever!"

We waited for the weekend to have her friends party. She wanted to have a "P" party--pajamas and pizza. So that is what we did. I was grateful for something halfway simple! This picture is her friends yelling "I scream, we scream, we all scream for ice cream!" Wow, can I tell you--they can all scream really loud! Their Happy Birthday to You (cha cha cha) song left my ears ringing for quite some time. But they had fun! What a cute bunch of friends Madison has, and I'm so grateful! They are all such good examples for each other.

She just looks so darn grown up. She's EIGHT! I feel old. But I'm so proud of her. She got her first set of scriptures for her birthday, and immediately had to go pick out a cute case for them. She has taken such good care of them and says they are her favorite, most special gift. Several times a day I find her reading them. What a good example to me!

Happy Birthday Madison! Thanks for being the best older sister ever, for making us laugh, for all of your energy and smiles, for your great example! We love you!

The TRUE meaning of Christmas....

...Okay, I could pretend that it is ME doing the teaching and my KIDS doing the learning, but today I realized for sure that it is the other way around! I don't know what happened that made me look at my Nativity Set a little differently today, but what a great lesson I learned!

First, lets look closely at this picture. If you can't see for sure, I'll point some things out:
1. We are missing the angel--it was dropped last year and broken to a million little pieces. We replaced it with the star thing.
2. The donkeys ear is missing (and the one that is still there is super-glued on).
3. You may notice that the manger is quite small compared to everything else--that is because it is the manger that belongs to the cheap $5 nativity set that I bought for the kids to play with last year. When the real manger was broken to a million pieces, we replaced it with this extra small one.
4. And the best for last--Baby Jesus is also of a much smaller scale (because yes, the real Baby Jesus was broken into a million pieces as well, and replaced by the cheap $5 set's Baby Jesus).....also take note that even this Baby Jesus is missing both arms and is hanging upside down off of Mary's lap.

So you might have guessed that my purchase of the little $5 Nativity Set didn't work. My little kiddos cannot keep their hands off of my beautiful, hand-painted Nativity Set. Perfect example: look at the sheep (the larger one came with my nice set, and the small one from the $5 set). Joseph and one of the Wise Men are holding the sheep so that they can see Baby Jesus better. Another good example: it's hard to tell in the picture, but despite all of the extra room on my front table, every figure is as close to Baby Jesus as is physically possible. He is usually completely surrounded on all sides but I moved a couple of people to take this picture.

I am sad to say that I didn't realize how "cute" this is until today.......it really hasn't seemed cute at all. Honestly, every time I walk by my front table and see the all of the figures re-arranged AGAIN, I think "Aaugh! Why can't my kids play with their little set and leave mine alone????!" Then I re-arrange it the way I like it and I say "You guys PLEASE stop playing with my Nativity set!" Does that sound like the TRUE spirit of Christmas or what?

So today, the girls were at school, Isaac was having an extra long nap, I was getting lots of things done and feeling un-hurried for the first time in a few days! And when I walked by my front table and noticed the scrunched up, re-arranged Nativity Set, I actually paused for a second and just looked....and realized:
1. Being un-hurried allows for some very important realizations.
2. I'm going to miss this someday.
3. Material things don't matter. Nice expensive, hand-painted set = cheap $5 set in a child's eyes. They go together perfectly and the more the merrier!
4. Physical appearance doesn't matter. It's okay if the donkey only has one ear, and even if Baby Jesus is missing both arms, He is still just as special!
5. The closer to Jesus, the better. That is the TRUE meaning of Christmas!

Thank you my sweet little kiddos for teaching me what this season is really about! I just love your little mischievious hands so much and I'll try to remember that every day!

Happy Birthday to Isaac!

Isaac officially turned TWO years old! November 15th was the big day.....the family came over and we celebrated with a little "dirt" cake and ice cream. Actually I made some pumpkin dessert for the adults and filled the tractor full of chocolate cake crumbles and some gummy worms for the kids. The pumpkin dessert wasn't my most successful attempt ever--I think we all would have opted for the dirt and gummy worms if we'd had enough. It was a hit with Isaac, for sure. He goes to sleep each night with a truck in his death-grip, so this was right up his alley.


Like I mentioned, he likes trucks a lot. This is all he did all night long (below). The first present he opened had this little skidster being pulled by a truck and a trailer. He threw the truck and trailer in the corner and wouldn't even touch his other two presents. So Madison and Emma opened them while Isaac put cake and ice cream in the skidster and dumped it various places. Great company for the guests, Isaac!

I'm sure the flame had him fascinated more than anything, but I had to wonder what kind of wishes might go through his cute little two-year-old mind....

Isaac and Grady are so cute together. Sometimes Isaac has a hard time SHARING.....but they had fun playing trucks together as long as Isaac got to keep his precious skidster.

Since my last post about Isaac's vocabulary, he has quadrupled his word list. He has also quadrupled his use of the word "mine" only it sounds like "MY! MY! MY!" over and over again all day long. He really believes he owns everything in his sight. He likes to show off for people by running around like crazy, screaming his little high-pitched scream and trying a summer-sault or two. He LOVES to read, and always has to be sitting in someone's lap while reading. He cannot share your lap, either, we have learned. He especially likes his little animal book--he gets so excited when he turns the page to see a "NEIGH! NEIGH!" (aka horse). Isaac's favorite foods are macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets. I've tried to get him to eat vegetables and he is the worst in our family so far. But if you give him a big pile of sour cream to dip stuff in, he'll eat just about anything! In fact, he usually ends up just spooning the sour cream straight into his mouth--forget about the dippping. He is ALWAYS happy, always has a smile on his face. And definately ALL boy--spending most of the day with three females does not rub off on him at all.....his world is dirt and toilets, trucks, mischief, bothering his sisters, anything BOY. Except that he does favor a little pink and purple blanket more than any of the others. And I did mention that he won't go to sleep without a truck in his hands. He's just a really cute, funny, interesting, unique, and happy little boy! I don't know what we would do without him! Happy birthday to our little Isaac--we love you so much!