[Footnote: I am terrible at this!]

So, I didn't want to post the last two posting until I got the pictures and the video uploaded, unfortunately, I never have time to figure it out. I have no idea how to crop a DVD to show only my kids and I playing at the recital and I just never have enough time to blog at home. I do all my blogging at work in the middle of the night. Hence, I have decided to post them sans the visuals. I know they are flimsy excuses but there they are.

On to new things. The kids are as busy as ever. Ambrosia is playing soccer. She practices on Thursdays and plays on Saturdays. She is also busy preparing for the Oquirrah Mountain Temple Youth Celebration. The celebration is a huge dance and choir number celebrating South Jordan and the new temple. There will be 10,000 youth preforming. They practice weekly, and now more frequently, and will preforming for the prophet, Thomas S. Monson, on May 30th. She also has been busy with service projects organized by the Young Women. Jarron is playing Super League baseball this year. They practice daily for several hours and then he plays double hitters every Saturday. He has also been trying to keep up with his scouting and is working on his Weblos badge. Coleson is also playing soccer. Ron is coaching his team (a little side note: Ron didn't even know the rules to soccer before agreeing to coach. Pretty funny being the athlete and sports enthusiast that he is, but admirable for stepping in. He is a great dad!!!) They practice on Fridays and play on Tuesdays. Ryan is playing baseball and plays games whenever the league can fit them in, which happens to be on very random days. Ryan also graduated from preschool on Wednesday. He was so excited but when it came right down to it, he was too shy to sing. He sure was cute though!
Needless to say, piano is on hold for a few months, sleep is a rare commodity, meals are a much simpler affair and blogging is almost nonexistent. We are, however, enjoying (and I'm saying this with a touch of sarcasm), the spring weather in all it's variety-to the fullest extent. I planted 11 raspberry bushes and a lilac bush a couple of weeks ago and surprisingly enough, Princess has not tramped them and they are growing!!! Now if only our HOA doesn't inspect our yard and make me pull them. (Raspberries are not an approved plant and I didn't get permission to plant anything.) Cross your fingers, pray, whatever, I really, really, really want raspberries!!!

I don't know when I'll post again, hopefully when I have some action pictures of the kids to brag about. Keep checking back.

Piano Recital

Thursday was the night of our annual piano recital except we haven't had a recital in three years. I insist my children all take piano so that they will be well-rounded individuals when they become adults, plus it has been shown that those that take music lessons also do better academically. They start as soon as they finish first grade. Sometimes it is a real struggle to get them to practice but they are learning to just practice and not complain. I also take piano lessons. I only take once or twice a month due to the fact that I can't get the practice time in with raising a family and working full-time. But I am plodding along. The kids did marvelously!!! They really practiced hard and did themselves proud!! We are so proud of them and I think they were proud of themselves.

It was the last recital with Sharon Miller being our teacher. For the past year and a half I have been driving back to Magna, 30 min., every Thursday and parking in front of her house and sending one kid after another in for lessons. Sometimes, we were out there for 3 hours. It just got to be too much. She has taught us for five years and she was a wonderful, patient teacher and she is a good friend and we will miss her greatly. She helped me bring music to our home!

Vacations

I know it's been awhile since I posted, I can't believe how fast life goes when you are busy. The last week of March I went to Washington to visit with my cousin Tiffany. We had a blast. We stayed up until 6 am talking the first night and then drove to Portland, OR to attend the temple. I am so grateful to be living within a hours drive to 7 temples. I think my attendance would significantly drop if I had to drive 3 hours just to go. We spent the night in Portland at one of Tiffany's "new" sisters. Tiffany and I went on a senior trip to Seattle 15 years ago. We drove in a broken down car that took two hands to steer and which you had to keep your foot on the gas pedal when stopped at a stop light or else the car would die. We got miserably lost in Portland, Oregon the first time and miserably lost this time. I hate Portland! Seattle on the other hand was great! One of my favorite places was Pikes Place Market. We visited there again this time. There is a great restaurant on the pier, called Ivars, that serves excellent seafood. I have waited 15 years to eat there again and it was worth it!

One of the days, we drove to a town named Leavenworth, which is basically a tourist town mimicing a small German town. The town was beautiful and the mountains were majestic. It's hard to impress someone who was raised in the mountains but they were really beautiful. It was snowing there and silly me didn't know it snowed in Washington. I was wrong, it does!

We spent one day learning and blowing our own glass at a glass gallery in Tacoma. We got to keep our masterpieces (now I hope my kids don't break it!) I really like the bowl I created. It has the pattern of red, black, and white flower in the bottom and flowing up the sides.

The highlight of the trip was visiting the town of Forks and La Push. I am a huge Twilight/Stephenie Meyer fan and the book series is set in the town of Forks, Washington. Normally, I would not have made a trip like this but I was already so close I couldn't resist. The town and the area are just like they are described in the book. (I completely see now that I live in a desert.) Everything was so, so green and wet! It was raining all day but only a mist like rain with overcast skies. The people of the town of Forks were the nicest people and not at all bothered by all the sightseers, and we were not the only ones by far. It was fun to see the other fans taking pictures and getting excited like I was. La Push beach was gorgeous and totally intimidating but freezing cold. We were soaked by the mist and rain by the time we picked up some rocks and enjoyed the beach until our faces froze. Port Angeles was larger than I expected. We didn't get to see much because it was dark by the time we arrived but it looked like nice town to go back and visit. It all was so surreal. I absolutely loved it!!!

I was gone nearly a week. The longest I had ever been away from my kids. Even though it was nice to not have to worry about them or the household and have a break where I could just be me, I missed them terribly.

When I got back, Ron left for Las Vegas to see the professional drag races. He got sunburned on his vacation and I froze and got to experience the storms twice, once in Seattle and again when they went through Salt Lake. Something is wrong with this picture :) He had a great time and even had one the drivers sign his shirt!

While he was away I took the kids bowling and we stayed up late every night watching movies. What a week and a half of fun!!

Jarron graduated from D.A.R.E. today. D.A.R.E, Drug Abuse and Resistance Education, is an educational program to teach kids the dangers of drugs and alcohol and how to say no and deal with peer pressure. A police officer does all the teaching and they have to complete a workbook and an essay to graduate. I had no idea it was such a big deal. He called me from the school to ask if I would come to his D.A.R.E graduation right now. I thought I would be there 15 minutes tops. When I got there, the entire fifth grade was in the auditorium. Miss Utah spake to the students for fifteen minutes, essay winners read their essays, and the Jazz bear came to "pump them up", then they all got certificates and t-shirts. The whole ceremony took over an hour and I didn't bring my camera. Luckily, cell phones have cameras now and Ron was home to bring the camera at the very end. Congratulations Jarron!

My baby girl turned 12 this past Wednesday. I can't believe I am getting so old or that she is. We gave her the choice of either going out to eat or having $50 to plan her own party. She chose to plan her own party. Her party was on Saturday. On Wednesday, we had her favorite dinner, spaghetti and she opened her presents from us. She got more High School Musical and Twilight stuff, plus makeup and a razor. I am a little afraid to teach her how to shave. I still have mega shaving scars on my legs but she has to start sometime. For her party, she took her friends swimming at South Jordan Rec Center. I ended up taking 9 children to the pool. Crazy! We then came home and had pizza, cake and ice cream and played some games. Most of the kids went home after that, but Dakota and Ashley Austin, friends from our old house spent the night. Having the house full of girls nearly drove Jarron crazy, he was exhausted trying to impress them all the time :). Today, was Ambrosia's first time in Young Women's. She was excited and she liked it. We had a temple celebration fireside tonight where she learned that she and 10,000 other teenagers are going to dance and sing for the prophet in celebration of "our",Oquirrah Temple", being completed. What an incredible opportunity for her!! She will make friends much quicker this way and hopefully her testimony and self-esteem also grows with the experience.

Valentine's Day

Valentines Day, the day of hundreds of useless cards and terrible candy. Ryan celebrated Valentines on Thursday because that is the day of preschool. He was so cute trying to write his name on all of his valentines. He had two boxes, one in made in school and one he made with the older kids. Teachers nowadays make the parents make the valentine boxes at home. I hate it! I don't want them using my scrapbook stuff and everytime I buy them art stuff they use if all in two days, besides the fact, that I never have shoe boxes around so I am always trying to scrounge together enough red, pink, and black stuff for them to make good valentine boxes. Anyway, Ambrosia had the only shoe box, Jarron had a tissue box (that bytheway still had tissues in it-now the tissues are homeless on the end table:( ), and Coleson used my new camera's box. They had a great time making them but, boy did they make a mess. The kids had their parties today and they brought home lots of treats and cards. I loved valentines, as a kid, always hoping that the boy I had a crush on would give me a special valentine, never happened, but still.

The stake had a Sweetheart Ball that I convinced Ron to take me to. I traded the day just so I could go. I know, I'm a geek. It was fun though. They hired a band and had the gym decorated with lights and pink and red paper balls (like those paper chinese lamps only round). The centerpieces were tree branches with ribbons tied on them. It sounds stupid but it looked really modern and chic. I would have never thought to do that. Of course, there was lots of yummy treats and snacks. They even had someone there to take our pictures. Who would have thought that at 32 years old I would be going to dances still? We don't dance very well but that didn't matter it was a free date with my husband. You can't get anybetter than that!

All in all, a very romantic, perfect Valentine's Day for everyone around.

This is the beginning of a dangerous addiction. I start this blog with a little intrepidation as I know I will spend an obscene amount of time updating and "playing" with it. I recently just signed up on Facebook and already it has become and obsession. Unfortunately, Facebook doesn't allow for me to gush about what is really important to me and that's my family. My husband and kids are my life and beyond them I'm really not all that interesting. I enjoy reading, cross-stitching, scrapbooking, and playing the piano, and last, but not least, I enjoy sleeping. Not one of those hobbies are exactly interesting to talk about, even though I love a good book discussion. I'm not a member of any formal book club, as my co-workers offer a great forum to discuss interesting books and there are so many of us with so many different tastes that I am rarely without a book "I must read".
So here is a little breakdown on the main characters of my blog, my family.
Ron is my sweetheart and has been for over 14 years. I rarely call him Ron, instead he is Hon, but here I'll refer to him by Ron for your reading pleasure. Ron works at Ace Disposal as a relief driver. To those of us that are nurses, he is the "resource" driver. He enjoys all things sports and outdoors. He also is quite the tease, so much the kids rarely believe a word he says even when he is serious. Right now, he is also the Elder's Quorum second counselor which helps him get to know more people in our HUGE ward but keeps him pretty busy. (More about that later)
Ambrosia is out oldest and only daughter. She is also the only granddaughter on Ron's side. She hates being the only girl but alas that is what she is. She turns 12 in 2 weeks, aagh! She loves pink!!! Her room is pink and so are most of her clothes. Did I say she loves pink? She also loves animals, especially horses. She is waiting for us to purchase a horse. She is going to wait for a very long time since 1. We live in the city and 2. Her mom hates animals, but she can dream, right?
Jarron is our oldest boy. He is just 14 months younger than Ambrosia (so almost 11 years) and they act like twins most of the time. He loves all things sports and military. Right now, he is obsessed with the army. He plays baseball every year and definitely picked up his dads athleticism. (I have no coordination at all when it comes to sports). He picked up his dad's sense of humor also and teases his sibling and even his mom constantly:)
Coleson is the third and he will be 9 years in May. Coleson is a different but sweet boy. He sees things differently than the rest of us and his parents are still trying to figure him out. He wants to be an engineer when he grows up. He loves his video games and his Pokemon cards. Sports aren't his favorite but he likes soccer. He is one picky eater!
Ryan is our baby. He just turned 5 last month. He is the first one to have brown eyes in three generations and he is so cute with them and his white, blonde hair. Ryan worships his older brothers and will play what they do, but he loves cars. Cars are his life, I even have cars in my purse. Getting a $1 car at Walmart is the highlight of our shopping trips.
All the kids play the piano when they finish first grade. I want them to be well-rounded individuals and also want them to have a talent that will follow them into adulthood. Ron has been great supporting me with this.
We just built a house in Daybreak. Daybreak is a huge subdivision in South Jordan, Utah. Daybreak mixes up condos, townhouses, smaller houses, regular houses, and mansions up into one neighborhood. Almost all the houses have huge porches and are painted a rainbow of colors. Our house is red and I absolutely love my porch. The yards are small but there are parks everywhere and I mean everywhere. There is a lake practically in our backyard, three elementary schools in walking distance, swimming pools, tennis courts, basketball courts etc. There are walking paths too. We also have the Oquirrah Mountain Temple in walking distance, we call it "our" temple. It opens this summer. Our ward is HUGE. We have split 3 times in the 1 1/2 we have lived here. We need to split again but there are not enough buildings built yet (one will be finished next month and we will split then, no doubt). Getting to know people has been difficult, especially since I am kind of shy, don't laugh, and I work, which hinders me from joining all the clubs that are available in Daybreak and in our ward. We have great neighbors though and Daybreak attracts the type of people that want to be neighbors and see beyond socioeconomic, racial and religious boundaries. I no doubt will find great friends here. It's a great place to live!