Friday July 18: Family and the park

Backyard of my parents house. Left to Right: Pepa, Elisabeth, Charles and Angelo:

Last Friday(over a week ago) was our first full day in Washington and so mostly it was spent visiting with family. It was the only day my older sister, Pepa, had off from working at the pub and so she came over with her four kids and we got to play for awhile. Later on that day my younger sister Becca and her family met us at Country Village which is similar to the Gardener Village here in Utah. They've got a bunch of cute little, but overpriced, shops and they have a playground and a little train ride which we all rode even though we were kinda big for it.

Elisabeth and Bella:

Annabelle's first time on a swing:

Bella(almost 2), Lani(11), Andre(almost 15-He's acting really cheesy in this picture. I don't think I got one shot of him being his normal self...no actually I think I did get one but he didn't know he was in the picture.):

Leia(10) and Charlie:

Elisabeth and Granny Garnica:

Elisabeth and Angelo(5):Andre acting cheesy again:

Becca and Paul:

Twin Falls temple open house

On our drive out to Seattle we decided to make a stop in Twin Falls Idaho(which was about 4 hours into our trip) and go through the open house of the new temple. This was the first time any of us had been to a temple open house, which meant it was the first time our kids had been inside a temple ever which they were very anxious and excited about before entering. They were very interested in the beginning and pointed out paintings and chandeliers, but after awhile, once we'd been through several different rooms, you could tell that some of their excitement wore out because they started playing with the fold down chairs in the ordinance rooms and would try and run ahead of us during our guided tour. Luckily there were two of us(Scott and I) and we worked together to keep things(aka the children) under control while making it a positive and memorable experience. Before and after going through the temple we talked with the kids about temples and why they are sacred and special(because it is God's house). We talked about how we can get married for eternity and the beauty and all the white within and around the temple. Elisabeth especially liked seeing all the pretty flowers and the water fountain on the temple grounds. Now anytime the kids see a temple(whether in a picture or in person) they ask if we can go inside. It was a neat experience for all of us and hopefully we'll get to do it again sometime, and perhaps we will soon with the two new temples being built close to our home.

Road trip

Annabelle holding her favorite toy

watching a movie

We made it home! We drove over to the Seattle area last Thursday the 17th to visit family and play. We finished off our vacation with a family reunion (on my Mom's side) in the tri-cities this weekend. We left there around 130pm yesterday and got home around 2am this morning. We had church at 9am this morning which we were able to attend(though some of us a bit late because we let Elisabeth sleep in a little) and now we're home and needing to unpack and take naps, but of course here I am posting a blog; I'm glad that I have my priorities all in order :). Apparently we took about 180 pictures over the last 10 days so I'll be sorting through them today and then hopefully over the next couple of days I'll get several posts up, so check back later.Just a quick note on the actual road trip part. All three kids did great! Of course whoever wasn't driving(usually me) was continually climbing over seats, twisting, turning, opening snacks, handing out and reading books, picking up crayons and toys, giving bottles, refilling sippy cups, putting in and taking out dvd's and cd's, etc, etc but overall I would most definitely call the trip successful and quite pleasant. Elisabeth and Charles got along nicely, they all slept some, there was very little whining, almost no crying at all and in the wee hours of the morning Scott and I were able to listen to "Finding Noel" a book on cd that my dear aunt and uncle let us borrow. Elisabeth did get car sick near the end of our long leg to Seattle(Scott thinks it was my driving skills that provoked it, but I'm pretty sure it was the winding hills) and threw up once near North Bend, WA. Luckily Scott had a grocery bag handy and was able to get there in time, though unfortunately the bag had a smallish hole in the bottom and some vomit managed to slip out and onto the carpet of the van. Oh well, it's much better than last years' little road trip to La Push and Forks when Elisabeth soaked everything within a 2 foot radius with her vomit. She and the van wreaked for quite some time after that one. So anyways, that's about it for now. Stay tuned...

Elisabeth and Charles smelling their feet

P.S. Thanks Rach and J for supplying the portable dvd player(and activity bag), you are lifesavers!

Happy 5th Anniversary Scott!

Thank you for a wonderful 5 years!!! You are my very best friend and I love you dearly. You are such a wonderful husband and father, I feel very blessed that you chose me. Happy Anniversary!

Be back soon

We're out on family vacation, and the computer access is very limited, hence the lack of posts :). It's been busy but we'll be back soon and I'll be sure to make up for it...we've got lots of pictures to post!

Annabelle is 5 months old!

Annabelle is 5 months old today! She is such a good natured, sweet tempered little girl. She has the biggest, prettiest blue eyes and her very short brown/blond hair is finally starting to grow a little(which is faster than Elisabeth's when she was this age).

Annabelle loves to lay on the floor and roll around. She can maneuver her way to just about anything now so I have to be careful and check the floors for little toys and other odds and ends(that her older siblings might have left out) before I lay her down. She puts everything in her mouth, just being a normal curious little baby. Yesterday we introduced her to solid foods. I let her try a little bit of baby food squash on one of my fingers-I read that the first few times you feed your baby solids you could try feeding it to her from your finger instead of a spoon...that way they aren't working with having 2 new things in their mouth at once-and she liked it pretty well. We're just about ready to retire Miss Annabelle's bouncer chair because she can now sit up in it when it's laying back which is pretty dangerous.
Annabelle is the best sleeper! She usually goes to bed around 730pm and will wake up around 7am. She also takes three naps a day. Two half hour naps and one 3 hour nap. Annabelle loves interacting with others and she gives the best, most slobbery, open mouthed kisses! One of our favorite sounds is the sound of Annabelle cooing and laughing. Whenever she starts doing this we all seem to gravitate to her and return her smiles and coos hoping that she'll entertain us a little longer. Oh yes, and of course she still LOVES sucking her fingers and can't seem to get enough of them!

Good ways to use your vegetables

Turn it into baby food(thanks Maren and Brain for providing the squash from your garden). As a side note-I read about making baby foods and one way to easily store the baby food(in about 1 ounce amounts) is to pour it into an ice cube tray, cover it with plastic wrap and freeze it. Once they're frozen you can take each cube out and put them in their own ziploc baggie if you like.

Bake it into breads and muffins. We made zucchini(from our garden!) bread/muffins this morning and the kids LOVED them! Yay!

Pretending to give a talk in primary

The other day while I was nursing Annabelle I could hear Elisabeth and Charles near by-Elisabeth was whispering words into Charlie's ear that he would repeat, I think they were pretending to give a talk in primary. Elisabeth gave her first talk in Primary a few weeks ago and before bed each night we'd practice her talk in a similar fashion. I finished up with Annabelle, grabbed my video camera and snuck up behind and filmed them for quite some time before they caught me. Because I was filming for awhile I cut some out to shorten the clip.

The first fruits

Our first (of many to come) zucchini were ready to be picked this week. I read in a gardening book that they taste best when they are small, which surprised me since every zucchini that I have ever purchased at the store was at least 6 inches long. These three ended up in the sauce below (along with some fresh rosemary), which ended up in a lasagna with cottage cheese that Elisa made, which was excellent, by the way. (By the end of the summer, all of the ingredients of this sauce will come from the garden, but for now we just used a can of diced tomatoes.)
Our zucchini plants are quickly taking over our little garden plot. Next year I'll be sure to give them more room.

Cheerfully persevere

Being a young mom with a few young children, I'm constantly learning things. Children go through different stages in life; they change, grow and develop. I try to keep up with all these changes and accommodate my parenting to each of their needs. For instance, Elisabeth is at a point in life where she likes to be with other friends, interacting and playing make believe. So I try and go to the park a few times a week and do playgroups with friends so that she has other little children to play with. Charles is at a stage(and he's been here for quite some time) where he wants to do everything himself from getting his own food to taking off his clothes to washing himself to changing his own diaper. And so, even though it makes a lot more work for me(it's much easier and quicker to just do everything myself!), I allow him to help..I teach him how to do something and he learns though it may take several times...and a lot of patience on my part. Annabelle is at a stage where she is wanting interaction, she's all about smiles and baby talk, just hoping that someone will come over and smile and coo back. This stage is an easy one for our family to adapt to because we all LOVE to play with Annabelle. All of these stages are fun and exciting though sometimes, as the mom, I feel overwhelmed trying to keep up with the constant change and action in our home. This brings me to a motto that I've taken on in life which is to, "cheerfully persevere." Now, I am sure not everyone agrees with this motto, some people think you are fake or a phony if you are always trying to be happy but I disagree. I think that you are what you do, and if you do something long enough(i.e. act a certain way) it will become so deeply ingrained into your mind and your soul that it will shape your whole self.

President Uchtdorf gave a talk in the April 2008 general conference called, Faith of our Father. He told of a time when President Monson went to Germany for a conference. While there, he asked Elder Uchtdorf if they could pay a visit to another friend in the gospel who was bedridden. Elder Uchtdorf-knowing that President Monson had recently undergone foot surgery- told him that he lived on the 5th floor of an apartment building with no elevators. President Monson insisted on going. President Uchtdorf remembers, "..how difficult it was for President Monson to climb those stairs. He could take only a few at a time before needing to stop and rest. He never uttered a word of complaint, and he would not turn back. Because the building had high ceilings, the stairs seemed to go on forever, but President Monson cheerfully persevered until we arrived at the apartment of Brother Panitsch on the fifth floor."

I hope that I can be like President Monson with all of my little(and big) trials. What a good mother and spouse-and friend, sibling, co-worker etc- you could be if you could follow his example and cheerfully persevere throughout life without uttering words of complaint, but rather, building people up with words of encouragement, love and hope. During my scripture study last week I also came across this passage in Alma 17 that says, "yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls." I love it! I'm so grateful for all the many resources we have available to us to learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ so that we can be uplifted and edified and in turn lift and strengthen those around us.

Thanks for dinner Ben and Gina!

Saturday, in the early evening, we went over to Ben and Gina's to play and have dinner/dessert. Dinner was so good, thanks guys! Ben and Gina have been our good friends for a few years now. One of the reasons I used to convince myself we could move out here to Utah, even though most of our family are living in other states, was because Gina is here. We lived in Wymount together at BYU and she was my visiting teacher. We walked and talked usually 5 days a week, and we did cake decorating together(she got me interested and then we took classes together, and Robin,my sis-in-law, took one with us too). Gina is one of my nearest and dearest friends. We're only about a 30 minute drive apart so we make sure to get together at least every month and sometimes more. Here are a few pictures from our latest get together:

playing bocce ball:
The kids love playing together. Here they are all dressed up. Evan was spiderman and Elisabeth was a bride...apparently they were getting married :)

We ate fruit pizza for dessert, yum! It's a great summer dessert and this is definitely my favorite recipe...and I've eaten quite a few :). Here's the recipe:Fruit Pizza

Crust: press 1 package. Pilsbury sugar cookie dough in greased pizza pan. Bake 10-15min. at heat shown on package.

Topping:

Mix together: 4oz. cream cheese

8 oz. cool whip

~1/2 c. powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Spread on top of crust evenly & add desired fruit to decorate. Bananas turn brown fast so either dip in pineapple juice or add just before serving. Keep refrigerated.

Kathleen Eyring and TV

Last night while my sweet husband was giving me a pedicure(minus the polish) I was reading to him aloud from this month's Ensign, an article about Henry B. Eyring. There was a story in there that one of his sons told about his mother that was hilarious! Henry J.(a son) and another brother were in the dark basement watching a tawdry comedy show one evening around midnight. Their mother, Kathleen, walked in without warning in her nightgown carrying a pair of shears. Making no sound she reached behind the set, grabbed the cord gathered it into a loop and cut it with a single stroke. She went back to bed. The other brother cut a cord from a broken vacuum and connected it to the TV and they continued watching the show. The next day when the boys came home from school they found the TV on the floor with a huge crack through the glass screen. They immediately suspected their mom. When they confronted her she responded with a perfectly straight face, "I was dusting under the TV, and it slipped." :) LOL! I love that! When I read that last sentence to Scott I was laughing so hard that I could barely finish! What a good example of someone who is faithful, true and fearless in protecting her family!

I know that TV isn't completely bad, they do have some uplifting and educational programs out there, but there is also A LOT of bad, much more so than the good. And the programs that are okay or pretty clean(and I'm not referring to the uplifting or educational ones here), for the most part are still a waste of time. President Hinckley once said, “…I am suggesting that we spend a little less time in idleness, in the fruitless pursuit of watching some inane and empty television programs. Time so utilized can be put to better advantage, and the consequences will be wonderful. Of that I do not hesitate to assure you.”

Elder Hales, who authored this article, goes on to say that President Eyring honored his wife's wishes and that was the end of TV in the home. Because they no longer had TV, family members had more time for each other and more time to pursue interests, develop talents and engage in sports and other activities as a family.

3 kids in a bike trailer

We got a bike trailer off of craigslist last year and used it quite a bit with our two kids. I wasn't sure how we would be able to manage a bike ride this year with a third because the trailer only has room for 2 and only 2 seat belts; perhaps we could get one of those seats that attaches to the back of a bike or maybe Elisabeth could keep up on her bike, but you never know when she'll get tired.Yesterday the kids wanted to go on a bike ride but Elisabeth refused to ride her own bike and insisted on riding in the trailer. Then I remembered living in Wymount, which is BYU student family housing, and seeing one of our neighbors load a few of their kids in a bike trailer and give them a ride around the neighborhood. So we thought we'd try it(even though there was a tag on the side that said, 'no children under 12 months old' and miss Annabelle is not even 5 months yet). We didn't go far, we went to a park down the road so probably about a mile tops, but the kids were pretty comfortable and all enjoyed it. Charles and Elisabeth sat in the seats that are side by side and then we stuffed Annabelle in between Elisabeth's legs and had a blanket under her for some added cushion. There is also a bug screen cover that goes over the top which makes things seem even more secure.

4th of July activities

Wow, before this week I didn't realize how patriotic Utah was, well at least compared to Washington. Now, don't get me wrong, the people of Seattle celebrate the 4th of July but just not quite to the extent that Utahns' do :). In Utah there are USA Flags flying in everybody's yard (accept ours because we haven't had the chance to buy one yet), lots of parades, fireworks, carnivals and other activities going on throughout the week. It's been a lot of fun and exhausting at the same time. Our kids didn't get to bed until 9:45(Elisabeth didn't fall asleep until after 11) tonight which is 2 hours past their normal bed time and they've been up since 6am. Here are some of the activities we've done this week:

• watched the parade that started at our church, which is basically in our backyardIt was hot so we all drank lots of water:Our stakes' float:catching candy with the fireman hat that they were given:
• watched hot air balloons take off in Provo(this was just Scott, Elisabeth and Charles)
• went swimming at our city pool; it was free for the 4th. As a side note this was the kids first experience in a big pool this year and they were both a little too fearless for me considering they are no where near being able to swim. So, I've decided to put them into swimming lessons sometime this summerElisabeth's friend from church Elizabeth(or Libby) was there so they had to dance together! Notice they have the same swimsuit, the same name and they both have June birthdays...they're only about a week apart, funny huh?
• went to a carnival, walked around, got shaved ice, played on the playground and the kids got to go on a kiddy ride which they both enjoyed
• watched fireworks lit by Daddy and our neighbor Brian Unfortunately while Daddy was holding a sparkler, a piece of it broke off and landed on Elisabeth's hand. We quickly put it under water and she kept it in there for awhile but she still got a couple of little blisters. Our neighbor Greg brought over some glow sticks- they helped Elisabeth feel a little better. Before bed we put on some medicine for burns and a band aid and she's feeling much better, poor thing.