Regan is 10!

I hope that anything I write will make sense. I'm very sleep deprived. Last night we had our first and LAST birthday slumber party. First we took the girls to Build-a-bear to get their sleep buddies. I was surprised how many of them had never been! We had a party "guide" who took the girls through the process and at one point had them marching through the store yelling "STUFF ME". It was pretty funny. Then we went back to the house for presents and ice cream sundaes. Several of the girls couldn't stay for the night, but they got to watch High School Musical 2. They danced and sang rather loudly, too. Well, I thought that at 10:30 when the girls who couldn't stay had gone, that we could settle down the rest with another movie and then I could go to sleep.

Well, let's see: Midnight. Regan comes in and says to me, "Mom, they want to play hide and go seek in the dark, but I don't really want to and I'm afraid that someone might get lost." Lost? Sweetheart, this is a house, not the Australian Outback. I told her that it was late and they needed to settle down.

1:00 am: Regan wakes me again and says that they are all STARVING! Can they please have something to eat? I say no, go back to bed! (I can then hear them getting into the refrigerator and the pantry! Hello! My room is directly above the kitchen! But I'm too tired to care.)

2:00 am: Regan wakes me once again. "Mom, I don't feel very good. Like I'm going to throw up." Hum. Could be all the food you ate! And why are you standing over me saying you need to puke and not over the toilette? I tell her to go take some pepto and then I roll over.

6:30 am: "Mom, I still feel sick." Well, go into the bathroom!

6:35 am: "Mom, when I was in the bathroom, my stomach growled. I think I'm just hungry." And of course, we were being a great parents and bought cinnamon rolls and not cereal (which we were out of) so we had to get up, and start cooking breakfast.

So, now it's 1:30 in the afternoon, all the girls are gone, my house is a mess, and I really need a nap. Unfortunately, Porter doesn't seem to need one. Rats. Sorry, Hali. You will never have a slumber party birthday!




This is the group at Build-a-bear.




Regan opening some of her presents. Her best friends Camille(in green) and Carly are next to her.

A Room with a View

Yesterday, I walked into the girls' room to wake them up for school and they had opened their windows and blinds. I happened to look out the window and noticed the great view that they had! That is the future Oquirrh Temple in the distance! The temple is so close and this is the first time I'll ever be able to follow the progress of a temple being built on a daily basis! I will update periodically to let you see what we are seeing. :-)

Labor Day @ Bear Lake

We wanted to do something fun for Labor Day this year. Kind of an End Of Summer hurrah. So, we took the kids to Bear Lake. The lake straddles the Utah/Idaho border. We used to go there all the time when we were first married, but haven't been back since I was pregnant with Hali, so it brought back a lot of good memories. The North Beach has a really large shallow area. You can walk a long ways and it's only to your waist. We actually got Porter to walk in up to his chest, which is a HUGE feat for him. (He screamed bloody murder at the pool in Glen wood Springs!) The kids had a great time playing in the sand and swimming in the water. We are planning to go camping here next year so that we can spend more than a day.

Zoey's First Birthday

Since most of Scott's family were gone for Zoey's birthday, we decided to go ahead and do the one year cake thing. We will do a bigger family party for her, combined with Regan's later this month, but didn't want to wait too long for the cake. So here are a couple of cute pictures.

Hali's Colorful Face.

Hali was running and screaming through the house, as usual, and slipped on the hardwood floor. Unfortunately, she was a little too close to the banister!

Yes, He's asleep!

I keep telling Scott to stop taking pictures of the kids when my house is so dirty!

Porter is in the "I don't nap" phase of toddlerhood. Sometimes, it just catches up with him.

The Things Our Children Pick Up

So, I'm the Primary Chorister and I love the calling. These kids crack me up! Today we were working on the song, "I Want To Live the Gospel." So I started by asking the kids what they wanted. Anything; a toy, a vacation, something to do. In Senior primary it was all video games, computers and video game consoles. It was the Jr. primary that got me. You know that these kids are too young to figure these things out themselves, but heard mom or dad say them. A few of my favorites were one young BOY, wanted new clothes! A five year old girl wanted to go to the mall. Her mom is one of the counselors in the Primary and is not the mall going type. Although, she does have a teenage daughter! One little boy just wanted to play light sabers with his dad. Others wanted to go to church everyday. Or just go to the library. Well, I'd go for the library, but I'm not sure that I could handle church everyday. I just love the interaction with these kids. They are just like sponges, soaking up everything you say.

A couple of weeks ago, I overheard a little sunbeam talking to her mom in the bathroom stall about things we had done that day. It was so cute. Sometimes you don't think they are paying attention and then you hear one telling their parent about what happened. I'm finding this calling very rewarding! :)