Olivia is learning to swim

We cannot keep the girl out of the water!!! Travis started teaching her to swim last week. She is doing very well. He puts a floaty toy in the water and has her swim to it. She can go a couple of feet by herself!! She is our youngest to swim, and although all of our children absolutely love the water and are little fish, she is the most obsessed with it!!! She cannot have anyone near any form of water without being there with them. We don't take showers while she is asleep because she hears the water turn on in her sleep and wakes up crying to get in the shower..... and that says a lot because the girl sleeps through parties and tons of kids running all around the house.... but turn the water on and she wakes up quick as can be.

new cookin' stuff!!!

For Cami's birthday Grandma made her a new Chef's hat and apron.... she LOVES them!! We also got this GREAT new cook book. It has a lot of healthy/easy recipes. This book has big pictures for the kids to look at. The book also has questions to ask your kids as you cook. It helps kids think about what they are cooking. I really, really like this book. It is full of healthy-fun EASY snacks.

Here is the Banana Bread Recipe we made this week.

Mash: 3 bananas

Mix: 1 c. whole wheat flour

1 c. white flour

1 t. salt

1 t. soda

1/2 c. wheat germ

Add: 1/2 c. butter, melted

STIR

Add: 2 eggs

1 c. apple juice concentrate (we substituted this for Welche's 100% White Grape Juice.... yum)

Bake in greased pan at 350 for 1 hour. (we did small pans to take to neighbors, and they cooked for about 25 minutes at 325).

Some of the questions it has for you to talk to your child about while cooking are:

1. Why do you think we use ripe bananas for this recipes?

2. How do bananas grow?

3. What does the soda do? (put some baking soda in vinegar and see what happens)

I love this book. There are a lot of recipes that we love!!! If you ever happen to see this cook book, it is great for a little chef!!

One of our favorite past times....

the little wagon on the back of the quad is a new addition, I LOVE it!!! Daddy can take all the kids on a ride down to the garage and no one feels left out- cuz he can take 'em all!!! )

Journals....

I am horrible at keeping a journal. My hand gets cramped, I get impatient because I can't get things onto the paper as fast as I am thinking them.... However, recently I have been introduced to LDSJournal.com! It is great! Super easy. And I need easy.

Here are a couple of pics of Travis's sister when she came to visit!! We had a great time having her here. Travis loves his little car and insisted on his sister taking a test drive. She seemed to enjoy driving it. We are so glad you all came to visit.... thanks Cindy and Susan for bringing your parents out. We love you and the kids enjoyed their time with you.

Laundry

I used to have problems with laundry. Really. Big problems. It seemed that I could never get it under control. The pile waiting to go into the washer was HUGE, the load in the washer was usually stinky from sitting too long, the clothes in the dryer were wrinkled beyond repair, and the pile of clean clothes was so big that it filled my bed. It was the biggest chore in my house, by far. I hated it.

Then one day a few years ago my mom (who was staying at my house and at that moment was helping me with the laundry) told me that one of her friends never ever took her clothes out of the dryer and put them into a basket. She folded them as she took them out. Then she put them away. I remember how I laughed and said something to the effect of "how nice for her, but she doesn't have young kids, so she has the time. I don't have the time to do that!" And I continued to pull clothes out of the dryer, put them in a basket and haul them to my room to sit until I could find time after my 4 children had gone to bed so that I could fold and iron and put them away.

For some reason, a few months after that conversation with my mom, I decided to try the whole "fold when you take them out of the dryer" thing. W-O-W!! Talk about LIFE CHANGER!! Seriously. It is true. It changed my life. This is the way my laundry life goes now...

a) first thing each morning, when I wake up the kids, I gather the laundry from the laundry baskets in each room.

b) I walk into the laundry room, throw the clothes in to washer and start it.

c) get kids to school, work out, come home and throw clothes in dryer.

d) shower & dress. walk to dryer. pull clothes out, ONE AT A TIME, folding as I pull them out. I put them in piles on the dryer. Then, when I am done, I take each pile to the correct room and put the clothes away.... (I also use this opportunity to make sure all beds are made and rooms are clean- I love doing 2 things at once).

e) I am DONE with laundry for the day!! I have racks next to the dryer where I hang clothes that need to be ironed or that need to air dry. I honestly cannot remember the last time that I had laundry build up!!! It is a miracle system. Sometimes I feel that it is hard to justify the 5 minutes that it takes to fold the clothes as I pull them out.... but I refuse to ever again take a load out of the dryer and toss them in a basket. It is not always easy, but it is EASIER!! Give it a try... you'll love it. I do!!

Siblings

While we were visiting family, my favorite little brother suggested a "date night". Something that has rarely been done with all the siblings (but in my opinion, we should do it more often). When we get together it is usually a full family function and that includes the kids... who love each other so much that they look forward to any opportunity to spend time with each other.

So, for our date night, we went to an improv comedy... um....place? I don't think that any of us really knew what we were going to be doing, but it sounded like fun, so we went. When we got there, we found out that WE were the entertainment. That is right, we were the show!!! The director of the event stated the scenes and then she would put us on stage and let us go. It took us a little while to adjust to the situation, but before too long, we were all having a blast!!! It was a fun time spent with family (minus my favorite big sister.... ) we were all carefree and a little bit crazy, and I hope that we make the effort to do it again soon!!! I love y'all!!

Easter Eggs

We were lucky enough to go to visit family over spring break this year. This year it happened to fall during Easter. The kids have never experienced an Easter with extended family, so they were especially excited. We spent Friday night with Aunt Ilesha, and we dyed eggs. The kids had a blast. Cami did all of hers yellow. After that, the kids were excited to go to bed because the easter bunny would be paying a visit that night(he comes a night early to our house so that he won't have visit too many houses on Saturday, we then are able to spend Sunday pondering the true meaning of Easter). So the kids put out their baskets and crashed into bed fairly early. After they were in bed, Ilesha and I went to spend some time with our mom. While we were there, Aunt Lori showed up (from California) and we got to spend some time with her, also. Saturday morning the kids woke up to a house filled with Easter eggs and baskets filled with treats. They got some darling dresses and some fun toys. I had left my camera at my moms house... so no pictures of our morning. But it was great. We made it to TWO easter egg hunts.... and FROZE!!! Utah was so cold. We had left our gorgeous, warm California weather and stepped into WINTER. So, we only had light jackets on, and we were very cold, but that only made the kids run faster to stay warmer during the hunts. They did well and had fun! After the hunts we went to our family Easter party. There the kids had another hunt... then the teenagers had their own special events, following which, the adults had a hunt. The adult hunt is a BLAST!!! The teenagers went into the cultural hall, set up chairs and other obstacles, and tossed a few hundred eggs out filled with tickets. Then they turned out all the lights and let the adults loose. The adults are not allowed to use baskets or bags of any type. So everyone tucks in their shirts and stuff the eggs in!! It is dark until the end when they turn on the lights and everyone fights for the last few eggs. after the hunt, their is an auction that the adults can use their tickets to purchase the items. It is so fun. It was my first year joining in the adult hunt and we hope to be able to do it again!!! It was a fun trip and I am glad that we got to go.

Thank you Mom and Michelle for your help during our trip. Monday I had an injury and have had to be in bed ever since, basically. I have had strong pain killers and have not been totally with it. Michelle took my kids and my mom took care of me and they were wonderful. Thanks so much. I am on the mend and things are looking brighter. I should be up and about by next week, thanks for all the concern from friends and family. I am recovering quickly, but I am not pushing myself too hard.

Happy Spring everyone!!

Happy Easter

Livvy not looking.

Gloria and Gray pointing to me.
Olivia pointing at me.

Last week I quickly snapped some pictures of my kids in their Easter clothes before church. I loved the sequence of these pictures.... Livvy not looking at me, me telling Livvy to look- Gloria and Gray pointing to where she should look, Livvy deciding to mimic what her brother and sister were doing in the next picture. I tell her to put her hand down, and SNAP. We have a picture.