sweet lexey

Lexey is so excited about turning 8!

This week on Wed (the day before her birthday) I checked her out of school and took her to lunch at smash burger. She loves hamburgers! When we walked in the door, she said "mmmmm, this smells good." She split a burger, fries and shake with Jo.    Then we went to deseret book to pick scriptures. She picked little scriptures. We got her name on them. She loves them!  Then we went to sprinkles cupcakes to try that out. YUM!! We went to the temple to bask in the beauty and then back home! Such a fun day.

Tonight lexey told me that she loves Jesus so much she can't wait to die so she can go see him.  I told her that is very nice but I would miss her a lot if she died so she suggested we all die as a family so that we can see him together.  She said she just really wants to be with heavenly father.

Lexey is loving softball. Tomorrow I'm taking her to a pitching clinic so she can try pitching. In girls softball, the pitcher and catcher are about the only people who touch the ball in the games so it's pretty boring for everyone else. I don't blame her for wanting to learn to pitch.

Dave is awesome

Since this is mostly a journal for our family and the kids, I thought I should document how awesome Dave is. He works so hard for our family. He  never brings the stress of work home which is quite remarkable since his work is surely very stressful!  He gets up super early to go to work (5am) so that he can be home in the evenings for dinner, sports or to ride his bike, which although it is fun, is also keeping himself young happy and healthy, which we benefit from.

Dave provides a very nice life for us. Our material needs are all met. We have good food, shelter, piano lessons, sports, etc.

I hope you kids all appreciate how hard Dad works, and has worked his entire life and also appreciate what a nice person he is to be around. He is happy and fun!

parenting victory

A few nights ago Clare was misbehaving ...shocking, I know...anyway, she lost the privileged of having dessert. This was completely devastating to her.  She made a lot of noise about how she wanted ice cream, tried to sneak up to get some, and carried on and on for a good hour.

A few days later at FHE she raised her hand and said, "next time i get in trouble, can you just spank me instead of take away dessert?"

Love it!   Now we know that taking away dessert is pretty much the best punishment possible.  Sometimes parenting is really fun.


Totally random, but a song I really love is the suite from the movie Sophie's Choice written by Marvin Hamlich.

trip to rexburg

Dan has had a rough couple of weeks. It all started with some stomach pain which took him to the ER a couple of weeks ago. They sent him home with some laxatives and told him he was constipated. That seemed a little strange since Dan is not the type of guy to go to the ER with some gassy cramps. I thought maybe they had missed the mark  He ended up going back to the ER a couple of times and they finally figured out that there was something actually wrong. Monday in the wee hours of the morning they admitted him thinking he probably had gall stones.  Monday morning my dad called to let me know what was going on with Dan. I texted Dave to tell him and he responded by calling and asking if I wanted to go up to Rexburg to spend a few days with dan while he was having gall bladder surgery.   Dave said he could be home that day and watch the kids until Th when he needed to go back to work.  I jumped on the opportunity*, booked a flight and hurried to the airport.

San Diego from the airplane! Gorgeous!

It was a long day of travel. I booked on southwest since it was a great deal ($100/each way), so I had to make a connecting flight in Phoenix. I got to SLC around 7pm. Shauna and Robin met me at the airport with Grandmas car and I drove up to rexburg abut 3 hours away.  I downloaded Jim Gaffigan's Food book to keep me company for the drive.  

I got to Rexburg hospital about 11pm. When I stepped into  Dan's room there were 10 college kids in there chatting, laughing and having a good time. Only Dan!  So funny. They were a really nice group of kids and I was really happy to meet them.    Dan was in good spirits and feeling pretty well since he had been on a delotid drop most of the day.

I spent the night at a house of one of dan's friends Taylor and his wife Hannah, they are housesitting for his grandma. The house is good size and about 20 min from Rexburg (on a side country road).

Tues I spent the day at the hospital. Dan's surgery was around noon.  I think by now Dan was on a morphine drip while awaiting surgery. He played video games on the computer and I read my book, "The Emperor of All Maladies:A biography of Cancer." It is an amazing read.

Dan's surgery was about an hour.  When they brought him back they left his gall stones for him to keep!  Dan was pretty sleepy for a couple hours after surgery.  At one point he told me how comfortable it was to wear a dress and that he was never wearing underwear again!  (He did not recall this a couple hours later when he came out of the fog and said "where are my shorts?"  I replied, "I thought you said you were only wearing dresses from now on?" and he said, "What?"  No memory of the previous statement about hospital fashion.)

By afternoon Dan felt pretty good and so I stepped out to Cafe Rio to get some lunch/dinner and a redbox for later. At that point Dan thought we'd go home ASAP and then sit around with his friends watching movies all evening.  As it turned out, after Dan's initial excitement to bust out of the hospital he got pretty tired and sore and decided to relax a bit. He even thought about spending one more night in the hospital but the nurses told him that he was well enough to leave.  So, we ended up going home about 10pm -- home to Taylor and Hannah's house.

huge living room in Taylor and Hannah's house

Over night we got snow! All the trees were covered. So beautiful! It was completely melted by noonish.

In the morning Taylors grandma, Nancy stopped by. She had a couple of hours to wait before a dr. appointment so she sat down and chatted with us while doing some sewing. She is an awesome lady. It was great to meet her.  In the course of conversation she said to me, "why don't you go do a session while you are here?"  I didn't pack anything even close to church clothes so she offered to lend me some.  I put on a dress and borrowed some shoes as well and headed up to the Rexburg temple. By this time Dan was doing fine, just needed to rest, but I really didn't need to sit and watch him every minute. So, I had the chance to go to the Rexburg temple which was really nice.

Rexburg temple up on a hill and very beautiful.

While I was in Rexburg I stopped to get some pizza at Papa Murphys for Dan to have for dinner that night, some snacks for Dan and a few other little items. Then I picked up lunch at Big Juds hamburger joint and headed home. By then Dan was feeling good so I decided to go back to SLC that afternoon so I could see Gma Joyce and Pat before I flew home.  Dan and I watched a little Coach Carter and then I drove to SLC from about 4-7pm. I listened to "In the Heart of the Sea" for most of the drive.

Wed evening I spent with Grandma and Shauna's family.    Th morning I met Pat Wickman for breakfast and then she took me shopping for a new outfit. She spent way more than I would have ever thought a decent amount to spend on clothes but she is a dear and she loves to shop.   It was great to see two of my favorite women.

I had a great little getaway. It was great to see Dan and have lots of one on one time with him, visit Rexburg, meet Dan's friends, go to the temple, miss my kids, be thankful for Dave, visit grandma, lunch with Pat.  Just what a needed for a fresh start. 

Leaving home I got a break from the day to day chores, but I also realized that it is the day to day chores that are so sweet in my life and what I am happy to come home to.

The night I returned Dave told me he got a chance to see what my life is like. He said his "days were very full and yet I did not do laundry, cooking, shopping, cleaning or walking the dog, and it was still full."   

My flight on the way home had a connection in Oakland. I always try not to fly through oakland because the weather is terrible, planes are always delayed or fogged in.    And, true to form, my flight out of oakland was delayed 40 minutes, sitting on the runway, then we had the bumpiest flight through all the fog and clouds! I was sitting next to a southwest pilot who was a passenger, just getting routed to his next flight.  At one point I had to ask him if it was a bumpy flight and he said, "no, this is about to rock me to sleep. You aren't scared, are you?"  Yes, actually I was scared!  I never used to be scared of flying because I was more used to it. I flew to and from San Diego a few times a year when I was in college, but now that I'm not used to flying the bumps bother me a little more.  the pilot recommended two good books. "Fearless" about a Navy Seal's journey and "With Winning in Mind" and what it takes mentally to excel. 

*I had previously planned to go to SLC to see grandma, pat and meet Lisa from IDaho, the weekend of the 11th but it had been cancelled. I was SUPER bummed and felt very sad. So when this trip popped up I jumped on it, needing the break, super appreciative of Dave's willingness to step in and anxious for a change of scenery.

Clare age 10

Clare is a great little person! She is still somewhat reserved in new situations, can sit still an concentrate forever, super polite and reliable at church, piano, school, etc. but has a very fun playful side with her friends and comfortable places!    She gets very hyper and silly at times.

Clare has always been a good student and continues to be very responsible about her school work. I never ask her to do her homework or reading, she always gets it done.  She works hard in school.

Clare LOVES Harry Potter. She got Harry Potter trivia for Christmas and enjoys playing with other Harry Potter fanatics when they come over. She was getting to a point where she would only read harry potter over and over again and was not reading other books so Dave took her Harry Potter books to work until she has a period of time to read other things.   So, now she has a new obsession, Calvin and Hobbes.  I took her to the library to pickup some quality literature since doesn't have HP anymore and she checked out 8 Calvin and Hobbes books. She loves them!

I wrote a lot about Clare in Nov for her birthday just a few months ago.

She is still just as wonderful.  Since then she took her certificate of merit piano exam and did well and passed level 2! It is quite an accomplishment. After CM she is able to do a little fun music. I got her a wicked piano book. She is starting with "Popular" and having a wonderful time.   The CM theory test has about a 15% fail rate traditionally. This year they had a new format which was a complete surprise to the students and teachers. The test was much trickier, taking kids 2-3 times longer to take the test and this year there was a 40% fail rate. Holly Franz, her piano teacher, usually has most of her students getting A's and B's. This year most of her students got B's with some A's and C's. Anyway, Clare got an A. I am super proud of her!  It is hard work but it feels good to achieve.  Dave took her ice skating as her "passed CM daddy daughter date".  They had a great time!

Clare is still really enjoying her Jazz dance class. Actually, she is LOVING the class. It is getting closer to recital time and it's fun to learn the dance they will perform. She always leaves jazz happy and excited.  It has been great to have her best friend Annika in class with her. We carpool, which is nice for the moms, but being together is super great for the girls. Annika has been a great friend to Clare and her family is really lovely.

Clare's bed time is a little later than the other kids. Usually she goes to her room to do homework or read.  On occasion, Dave and I let Clare stay up with us and watch a little TV after the other kids go to bed, sometimes we have treats, other times we just cuddle and hang out.  She LOVES this perk.  We started it a few months ago to try to encourage her to do piano practice without fussing and so she continues to do her piano without *fussing and reminds us on occasion that it's been a while since she watched TV with us and that she has been doing great with her practice.    *fussing means crying, whining, throwing yourself on the floor, pouting, etc.   Someday when you love piano you might get a kick out of knowing this!

We all call Clare Clare-bear, or just bear.  She is a sweet girl.


We take Meyer to RB park once or twice a week to walk and/or play with other dogs. Clare and Lexey roller blade. They are getting pretty good.

 Dissecting owl pellets at school. Jo was fascinated.

 always singing and dancing

 at the library getting lots of Calvin and hobbes

a

 Clare and her BFF Annika.

puppy Meyer

I am assuming some day Meyer is going to grow up and be a good dog and we might even forget what a huge pain he was as a puppy! I thought I should write down a few of the funny and terrible things he has done while a puppy since we will hopefully forget them later.

-digs holes in the dirt outside
-chews his leashes.... once dave tied him up outside a friends house while they went inside to see a new baby. when they came outside, meyer was gone but his leash was still there. He had chewed threw it and wandered off. One other time he chewed through his leash while I was on a walk with him
-eats our brand new tennis balls
-won't run with dave - afraid of the dark and too lazy to get out of bed in the morning.
-chews up his blankets in his crate into little shreds
-eats the girls blankets
-puts holes in clothes
-eats any food he can find -- granola bars, girl scout cookies
-ate half a dozen of fiber one bars and had terrible diarrhea all night long
-humps dogs at dog park
-cries when we walk past horses
- peed on the christmas tree (he was neutered within a few days after that unforgivable incident)
-ate a red pen and got red ink on his face and leg so we thought he was bleeding and panicked for a split second before we realized what he had done.
-chewed up calvin's glasses into little pieces


We are starting to see signs of Meyer growing into a good dog. He will come and lay by my feet when I sit on the couch. He knows what the word "no" means and will stop a behavior if we tell him no.  He also knows some things that he's not supposed to do such as eat off the table or kitchen counter so he is doing them less frequently and feels guilty if he does them without permission!

I can tell he is going to be an awesome dog. These days he is out of his crate all the time when we are home, unless there are kids who don't like dogs or if we have kids/guests eating dinner as he will steal their food. He is a very sweet puppy and growing into a nice dog.

The children absolutely adore him.  Clare is a little bummed he won't yet sleep in bed with her! He puts himself to bed in his crate.

Here are a few pics from our puppy days.

Meyer is now 10 months at about 80 lbs.