Simper Moments

Utah Symphony Audition

2011-11-13T19:24:00.000-08:00

First off, lets define a Symphony Audition for those less music savvy readers out there. It is the equivalent of a job interview for a classically trained, professional musician. It is for a salary position with a major symphony orchestra, which for an oboe player there are 3 spots per orchestra. So when someone chooses to get a college degree in music performance, this is one of the career paths they could choose to attempt. However, notice I used the word "attempt". It is one of the hardest jobs on the market to acquire. IF you get good enough to even audition for the position, you are competing against 80 other oboists who are just as good as you for the ONE chair. It's like a great big game of musical chairs, but in reverse! We're all running around in circles hoping we get that one chair in the middle. Yup, it's intense, cut-throat competition.

So, this is what I did today. Well, have been doing for the last 5 months. Many of my colleagues have been doing this for the last 2-5 years, taking every audition that comes up and are still waiting to grab that chair! This was my first time, and so this is simply my perspective on what I learned on this incredible ride of audition preparation, as a first-timer.

I auditioned for the Utah Symphony English horn/utility oboe job. Back in June I received an acceptance letter from the Symphony letting me know I could participate in the audition based on my resume. They then sent me a list with 28 or so orchestral works which I was to acquire the parts for and learn for the audition in November. Once at the audition, they would choose 5 excerpts at random for the candidates to play, alone on stage into the open hall. A panel of judges, from the symphony personnel would be seated in the audience behind a screen so I could not see them, they could not see me, I would just play. That is all I knew when I started this process. I found all the pieces, made a binder, collected songs on i-tunes and began to learn a whole bunch of music, most of which I had never played before. Half the excerpts were for English Horn, the other half were for oboe. I believe I put in 12-20 hours a week in of practicing and reed making during this 5 month learning period JUST on this material! It felt like an overwhelming amount of new and incredibly difficult music for me to learn. There was one day I remember getting to the 3 hours of intense practicing point (and that was just playing time that day, NOT including the reed making that took place in the middle) and I pushed myself to a new height, a new level of playing, and I recognized the moment! It was amazing! I also collapsed from mental exhaustion when I finished that day! I mastered circular breathing through this process, which has been a 6 year project for me now, but that was an amazing achievement for me. AND, I know it wouldn't mean anything to anyone but me (but since this is all about me, I'm okay writing it) I found myself bumping the metronome further than I had ever been able to go on my tonguing and arpeggio warm ups! These were huge and exciting moments during this for me!

The Horn player in my quintet, Aspen Winds, was instrumental in coaching me through preparing for the audition itself. He is one who has taken many professional auditions, and is still working toward perfecting the art of auditioning. He had me do "mock-auditions" where I would play a set of excerpts as if it were the real audition, to see how I would respond. I was taught about breathing and relaxation techniques to keep the nerves and negative voices in my head at bay. It was also very helpful to have him talk through what I would expect to see and experience in my audition today. However, I learned all this was helpful to a degree, but there is NOTHING that can prepare someone for how they will personally respond in their first professional audition.

Today.

I thought I was prepared. I knew the music (although there were a couple of them I knew if I had to play, it would blow the audition. They weren't ready enough yet) I thought I had some good reeds, my oboe reeds much better than my EH reeds this week. (And then it snowed and rained this weekend, which changes reeds in funny and sometimes unexplainable ways) But it was all I could do. I had given my all to this in every possible way, and it was to make me better, which it did. So I went with confidence to Abravanel Hall this morning.

I got there with about an hour and a half before my scheduled time. They handed me the list and informed me that I wouldn't be playing oboe today, just EH. They had chosen 5 EH excerpts for all 40 candidates to play today in the "preliminary" round. 3 of those 5 excerpts were my least favorite in the entire book, 1 was the most technically challenging for me and my favorite excerpt was at the bottom of the list. I knew I'd be lucky to get to that one. They gave me about 45 minutes in a practice room by myself to warm up and prepare. My reeds were acting funny, but I was also slightly shaky, so I wasn't about to try adjusting my 2 remaining good choices last minute in that condition. Hearing all the others playing the same thing all around was hard to tune out. I said lots of prayers, practiced, and hoped when I went on stage I would feel calmer than I felt at that moment. It was so crazy inside my head. I had learned to quiet the little voices, these felt like monsters! Again, I knew I had given my all, and it would have to be enough for now. There was no more I could do. I couldn't seem to get the hard technical passage to come out as clean as it had been all week, and that made me scared, which made me play it worse. I'm telling you, it was the hardest mental challenge I've ever faced in all my years of playing.

Then they knocked on my door. It was time. I followed the proctor down the stairs to wait outside the stage door. This didn't help. I heard the EH player before me slaughtering the exact excerpt I was worried about. And then I heard them say "Thank You", and out she came, before getting to play the last 2 excerpts. This was not healthy for my brain. I tried to shrug it off, but I was now really nervous about that excerpt. I walked out onto the stage where there was an eerie silence, and one chair set up in the center of the stage with a stand. I took a moment to take in the surroundings and absorb the fact that I was doing this. Here I was, on Abravanel stage, ready or not! I found out it was mostly not. The first excerpt went fine, then I hit my 2 challenges right in a row and made the dumbest of errors. I knew what I had done, and I knew I would soon see the hand pop up over the curtain to say, "thanks, but we've heard enough." And that's what happened. They said "Thank you", and I gathered my things and went back off stage.

For a few seconds, I was disappointed in myself, but then I remembered why I did this. I wasn't here to win, in fact I didn't want to win. That would mean leaving my 3 babies to go to work full time in an incredibly high stress position. No, I didn't really even want that. I wanted to know I could do it. I wanted to be a better player. I wanted to become a great English Horn player, and an even better oboe player. I did all of these things, and so I call it a success. I learned a whole lot about what happens to the human brain when facing that kind of stress and pressure. That was amazing, and I can't even put it into words, because as I found out, you have to experience it to understand it.

And so, after all that I have learned that I can do anything if I put my mind to it. Who knew I could be a stay at home mom practicing my instrument 3 hours a day? Who knew I would be able to learn that much music in that short period of time? WHO KNEW I'D CONQUER CIRCULAR BREATHING DURING THIS?! I'm sorry, but that's my favorite result! I can't tell you how happy it makes me every time I do it now! It was a great journey, and I often found myself being reminded that it really is the journey that is important, not the destination.

I really can do hard things.

My Oboe Confession

2011-01-18T19:20:00.000-08:00

I am a mom. It is what I do day in and day out. I cook, clean, launder clothes, bathe children, play, play, and more play, and then clean some more. These are my responsibilities to see to every day. It's not always pleasant, in fact it can be downright unpleasant a lot of the time. But I love my kids. I love being with them every day and feel blessed to be able to do so. Because of them, I do love my job!

However, I think we all have a little side note attached somewhere inside of us. Something we love to spend our time doing, and secretly covet more time to be able to do this other thing. Mine happens to be my oboe. I've loved it since before I could play it. It brings me a satisfaction that nothing else brings. Having our three children all close together, though, has meant a lot of oboe sacrifice in the past 5 years. It's been tough. Rewarding, but very tough.

Before we moved over a year ago, I really took for granted all the playing I was still able to do. I was very casual about my practicing, because I was finding performing opportunities around every corner, and thought to myself "I don't have TIME to practice..." so I did what was needed to hold my abilities and perform what was needed well. I was performing lots, not improving lots. Then we moved.

It was a sad day to leave all those contacts, all those performing opportunities, all those established contacts that I could count on every Christmas and Easter calling me up. Sad doesn't even describe it. Devastating. I felt it would be too hard to network in a new place with a new baby and get anywhere. Okay, yes it would be hard, until I told myself I could do it.

It took me a year of courage building to finally overcome my hesitations and pessimistic outlook. I practiced here and there last year because it was all I had, there were no gigs, no concerts, no rehearsals. Just me. But I started practicing more regularly as the year progressed. I learned new pieces, I learned old pieces again, me and the oboe got reacquainted after a very lonely year. And then I jumped. I closed my eyes and jumped out into the wide open, knowing full well that it was time to have courage and confidence that I could do it. I scheduled myself a lesson with Bob Stephenson, oboist of near 30 years with the Utah Symphony, and my ASU oboe professor's good friend and colleague.

WHEW! It was so much fun! Call me crazy, but I love to be told HOW and WHAT'S. He didn't say to me "that was the most perfect I have ever heard that played" or "you are just amazing"... I think I would have called him crazy. Instead, he gave comments of "this NEEDS more vibrato here" and "your technique is quite sloppy on that run, lets think about the patterns and fix this" It made me laugh at the number of comments that lined right up with all the things I've been frustrated with in my own playing over the past several months. And I loved hearing ideas, and solutions. Hooray for solutions! I miss having regular lessons with people who have perfected this crazy thing. I am not yet where I want to be musically. In fact I was fantasizing the other day over getting a Masters degree (all in due time...) and so today was great. I really enjoyed Bob's teaching. He is a quick and expressive teacher. I do hope that he saw all the hope deep down under my countless flaws and weaknesses. I'm not a quitter. I may not be the best oboist in the world, but I am determined in my lifetime to become the best oboist I can be.

Long story short: preparing for this lesson today has taught me a lot. It has taught me that I DO have time to practice, without sacrificing too much time with my children. I CAN improve, and I CAN go out in the world with confidence that I am a good musician. I'm not great yet, but I learned that I think I can get there. It's amazing what giving up TV watching, and game playing and computer time will do. All sorts of time appeared when I really wanted it to! I needed it to, because I have found I need this. I need music, because it is part of me.

F.A.M.I.L.Y

2011-01-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

F.un around every corner
A.lways finding reasons to smile
M.aking memories
I.ce cream and egg nog professionals
L.ove
Y.ule Tide greetings from the Simpers 2010

Happy New Year!

Christmas in a Nutshell

2010-12-30T20:46:00.000-08:00

There were presents needing wrapping

and a meal to be had,Santa had been checking, who'd been good and who'd been bad.
We tell the story of the babe
born in Bethlehemwhere shepherds and the wisemen saw the great "I Am"
And even though we were not there
when that star was in the sky
We know that Jesus Christ the Lord
came for you and I.

Our Christmas Tree was found so bright
The stockings had been stuffed

Christmas day was surely here
Now, haven't we waited long enough?!And it was a very, Merry Christmas.
(Lucy was SO excited to get Bullseye from Toy Story for Christmas, which was a Christmas miracle in many ways. They aren't found in stores, and I feel very fortunate to have found one like I did, when I did. Christmas Eve, as she was getting ready for bed, she told us, "I will know which stocking is mine, because I will feel all of them and when I feel Bullseye, that one will be mine." Needless to say it didn't dawn on her Christmas morning that maybe Bullseye was too big to fit in a stocking! She was incredibly sad until we pointed this out to her, at which point she made a mad dash for the tree and knew just which box should be opened first. Obviously, the one with HER name on it! Wohoo!)

Frost'n Cookies

2010-12-30T19:18:00.000-08:00

The day it finally decides to DUMP some snow on us happened to be the day we had plans to have a cookie baking and decorating fest at my mom's house. My mom makes delicious Christmas cookies: sandies, thumbprints, spritz, raisin cookies, fudge, mmmm.... so many more and all SO delicious! I was excited.Well, because of the snow we spent our morning shoveling a foot of snow off our driveway (which seems like 3 driveways long in the winter) and our cookie time was cut very short. We made the most of it though, and the kids decorated the sugar cookies. We thought we'd be able to stick the decorations on a little table and the girls would decorate while we worked on the other cookies. It turned into an hour project for EVERYONE! Including Matthew. He refused to be left out of such a yummy activity. He decorated, and tasted his one cookie over, and over, and over. It was a very cute Matthew moment.

My cute little cookies!

Christmas is FULL of Performances

2010-12-28T20:54:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is the last I'll post of my adorable girls performing this month. It was a busy month (no, let me say WEEKEND) of group performances. Amelia's school had a singing open house where each grade was able to sing for their parents. The kindergartners were so amazingly cute! I know I've said it before, but this is seriously my favorite age so far!

Lucy has been enrolled in a "Let's Get Ready Music" class done by Miss Raya Leavitt. It's been a lot of fun to go with Lucy (and Matthew) every week to learn songs and sing with Raya. The "Let's Get Ready" is an introduction to the "Lets Play Music" classes. It's a group approach to making music fun and educational at the same time. I believe the hope in this approach is to make the entire music experience about fun and play, not power struggles and tantrums. It's a good idea, and the younger ages were fun to watch in the performance (and make a LOT of sense!), but my 5 year old was doing more than a lot of the much older students were in this recital. It seemed a little "babied". Being a professional musician, I must say, music is a lot of WORK! There isn't a soft way around it. I like what Raya does with the younger children though. Lucy is learning solfege, she is learning rhythm, a sense of pitch, and much more. But I think beyond maybe age 7, this program takes things a bit too slow. This was my opinion after watching students ranging from age 2 to 16 take the stage.

Anyway, that is solely my own opinion, and we will continue one more semester with Raya -- and with that said, enjoy the adorable group of 2 & 3 year olds performance.

Some more Simpers on Stage

2010-12-27T21:52:00.001-08:00

We had a busy, busy Saturday. After Lucy's dance performance, we had a piano recital to attend. (neither of these events made the grandparents very happy due to the scheduling conflict with BYU football, but they do love their grandchildren more and very willingly attended both events! Thanks mom and dad, for being such devoted grandparents!)

Amelia first played "The Brahms" as she learned to call it. However, it is a little arrangement of part of the Hungarian Dance. Then she played Jingle Bells. This recital was quite the accomplishment for this girl. December was busy and the recitals seemed to sneak up on us. Well, lets just say she practiced, and Practiced, and PRACTICED the week of this performance so that she could complete her teachers Christmas challenge, that if they could get 20 chain links together, one link for every time a piece was played perfectly, she would give them a candy bar at the recital. WHEW! It was a LOT of work, for everyone involved, to earn that girl her desired candy bar. But earn it she did! And I think she felt very proud of her great accomplishment. I LOVE doing music with my girls! It makes me happy.

"Shirley" Simper Presents

2010-12-27T21:35:00.000-08:00

Lucy's first dance recital
December 18th, 2010
Dance to Shirley Temple's "Animal Crackers"
Choreographed by Miss Molly Mcallister

Temple Square

2010-12-17T20:40:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about Christmas: all the beautiful lights! Especially those that go up around the temple. We loved the lights at the Mesa Temple every year we lived in Arizona, and I really missed it last year when we were unable to go see temple lights. So we braved the crowds, on a Monday night, so that we could go on a night when the weather was decent (41 degrees). The kids all napped on the way there, and we had a MARVELOUS time at the Temple.
Do you like our "double" stroller. Yeah, it's a good thing our children like to snuggle up!
We realized AFTER the guy was nice enough to stop and take our picture that the stroller was right in the middle of it all, but once we moved the stroller, the picture quality seemed to diminish (of course). So, a stroller in the family it is then!

Baby, it's cold outside! And we're lovin' every minute of it!

Gingerbread Houses

2010-12-17T12:21:00.000-08:00

Our neighbor invited us over to decorate these AMAZING homemade gingerbread houses. I was shocked when I saw how big the houses turned out (I think she might have been too!). It was such a fun activity to do with the girls (okay - I'll take that back, it was fun to do, period) The girls were more interested in playing in the giant rice bucket that our neighbors had in their kitchen to dig in, so I did a lot of the decorating by myself. We started before Amelia was out of school, and I thought I had made it clear that morning that she was to come across the street to our friends house when she got dropped off. Well, she forgot. It became a sort of traumatic experience for her when her carpool dropped her off and left, and she couldn't get into the house. She was very good at logical deduction, and checked the garage to see the car was there -- which led her to the conclusion we hadn't gone far. She came over with tears in her eyes, I felt horrible, but the candy decorating quickly erased the sad and scared feelings. Amelia helped quite a bit after she got there. I think Lucy put on a couple pieces of candy - maybe.
And in our house, we believe in eating our house upon completion. It's delicious!

This is the Season

2010-12-17T09:17:00.001-08:00

Well, we got lucky this year and Santa came to us. We didn't have to brave the mall lines to sit on his lap, instead he happened to show up at our Ward's Christmas Breakfast. Not surprised, but Lucy was our only brave soul. Amelia needed a hand holder and didn't say much, Matthew wanted nothing to do with him, and Lucy was right to the point. "I want a bullseye." she told him. He looked at her with the look from "Christmas Story" the movie, YOU'LL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT! Different bullseye. I love how she knows how to get things done.

The primary children did a nativity presentation while the group and children sang "The Nativity Song". Lucy chose to be an angel, and Amelia was one of 12 Mary's. The one boy who chose to be Joseph was one lucky fellow!

Merry Christmas!

Birthday Boy

2010-12-16T21:06:00.000-08:00

We all know that all babies must grow up. Oh how I wish it didn't have to be so quickly though! A year has completely flown by, and I am looking back on it wishing I had a way to slow down time, or record every second of it in a rational way. I absolutely LOVED the infant Matthew. And I love and ADORE the new one year old Matthew. He is a delightful little boy. Every day I smile because of him. And if all babies could be guaranteed to be as calm, loving, easy going, (great at sleeping) as he is, I think I could have 20! Okay, maybe not 20, but you get my picture. He is wonderful, and I am grateful every day to be his mom.

My babies are growing up!

Swedish pancake breakfast to start the day, which I must say he either wasn't in the mood for, or wasn't a fan. He mostly played with his breakfast.

And of course we had a party.

There were gifts. (Thank you sisters, I'm sure he wouldn't have been able to open them without you!) ; )

AND CAKE! (It was supposed to look like a hat. We had a "hat" party because it is his absolute favorite word to sign. He loves to spot people in hats, or make things into hats. You name it, it can probably be called a hat!)

And he is already good at sharing.

Mmmmm....

Okay, now lets get serious.

This IS his happy face. Say "cake"!

What a great birthday for a great little guy!
Love you bunches, Matthew.

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-15T19:32:00.001-08:00

Around here, Wednesday before Thanksgiving is a bake-fest.
Thursday morning, I got up bright and early, and went out in the 7 degree, frigid weather, and ran a 4 mile race with my good friend Valynn.
I couldn't have been more pleased with my finish time! And by the end I hardly noticed how cold it was outside, even though frost was forming on peoples clothing and hats. It was crazy cold!
And then for the Thanksgiving feast! We had a spent a wonderful day with my parents and brother Richard. It really was a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Discoveries

2010-12-15T19:19:00.000-08:00

Did I mention how much I love the fall?! I think Matthew enjoyed it, too.

I can't keep this kid out of the cupboards or dishwasher! And I honestly don't try. Whatever keeps him content while I work!
I think she looks like a mad scientist in this picture! She cracks me up! And yes, that is my daughter with her arm down the hole of a toy which has been recalled for this very act. Oops!
And the mad scientist's latest invention: The "Comb in the Dark". Patent pending.

A Halloween Piano Recital

2010-12-15T12:49:00.000-08:00

Did I mention that Amelia has begun piano lessons this fall? She's doing great! I enjoy watching her learn music, and either she's a natural at it, or just has a mother who is excited to sit and practice with her. It's fun (most of the time). She had her first piano recital on Halloween. They did a star wars theme for part of it. Amelia played the introduction to the star wars portion by playing the 20th Century Fox movie theme. She picked that one because she recognized it, not from star wars, but from ice age. Go figure... She also played "One Scary Night", both from memory and did a GREAT job!

Halloween Festivities

2010-12-15T09:29:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin Carving

School Parade and Party

STRIKE! Pumpkin Bowling

A visit to the Great Pumpkin, okay, it was really Daddy's work.

Trick or Treat! I'm thinking, TREAT!

Happy Halloween 2010
(and for those paying attention to details, yes, Lucy was 2 DIFFERENT pegasus' depending on her mood.)

I'm not biased after all.

2010-12-14T21:18:00.000-08:00

Also notice how all of these above points are used on this handsome little baby below? I think you will agree he is a perfect example of a cute character baby!

Grandpa Austin's 90th

2010-12-14T12:48:00.000-08:00

We made a very quick trip to Holbrook AZ in October to celebrate Dallan's Grandpa Austin's 90th birthday. He was quite the party animal! We had a great time at the celebration, well most of us anyway. The girls got to hang out and play with Grandpa's great old toy collection and play hide and seek. Matthew tuckered out quite early, and so he and I didn't stay long before we had to go have naptime. We were so glad to have had the opportunity to go and spend time with Grandpa though. He is such a great man, and we love him!

While in Holbrook we took the "park tour" of Holbrook and compared all 3 of their city parks. I had no idea there were 3 of them. Dallan grew up across the street from the biggest and best of the 3, but it was fun to see and play at the others. The girls were just the other day still talking of their visits to Holbrook, the merry-go-round, rocks, trees to climb and Grandma's house. I love that my children have magical memories already, of visits to Grandparents.

I Love Everything About Fall

2010-12-14T11:37:00.000-08:00

It is my favorite season! Everyday this fall I found myself marveling at the beauties I saw outside, I loved the sounds of the leaves crunching on our walks, I loved the smells in my kitchen, I loved to taste all the fruits of my labors. There was one day I went running, and I would have sworn God made the leaves dance around my feet perfectly in sink with the song I was listening to. That was bliss. I absolutely loved fall!

Can we go to Cornbellys?

2010-12-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

This was the question every night I got while putting Lucy to bed during the month of October. We bought the month passes to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point (thanks to a deal on city deals, it made the passes for a month equal to one visit) which allowed us to take the kids a couple times, and even go on a date by ourselves once. Dallan and I made record time through the giant corn maze of 20 minutes (I think, or was it 13?) because my husband is incredibly smart, and knows his mazes! But they had bouncy things, and riding things, and a giant box full of corn kernals to play in, besides the many mazes, shows ect. It was a lot to do, but it was a fun part of our fall festivities this year. Lucy still often asks if we can go back, and is only convinced that we can't when I tell her the people put all the things away until next fall. We might have to find a way to go back next year.

Bike Riding and Kindergarten

2010-12-13T09:03:00.001-08:00

Amelia is growing up WAY too fast!

Amelia came home from summer festivities, and tried and tried to get good at riding her two-wheeler unassisted. We still use it as an example (quite often) when she says something is too hard to do. It was not easy for her to let go of her fears with bike riding, and now she is very proud of her accomplishment. She zooms up and down our hills with ease.

Matthew enjoyed our bike riding activities as well.

On the subject of Amelia, she is such a cute kindergartener, don't you think?! She likes school, mostly for the friends it provides every day, and loves to come home and talk about their amazing schedule. I ask her what she did at school hoping for great stories, and instead often get: "well, today we had computers and p.e. Tomorrow is art and music!" That's about all I get most of the time. She's reading quite well, getting invited to lots of birthday parties and friends houses... oh wait, that is just more emphasis on the social. I guess she has always been, and probably always will be, a social butterfly. She's learning lots.

What Matthew did last summer

2010-12-13T08:55:00.001-08:00

Ate dirt

What I did Last Summer

2010-12-13T08:06:00.001-08:00

Here is a very brief look back at our trip to Washington this summer. I could make an entire book out of the fun pictures we took there, but I decided on only three for my quick blog catch up! We drove two days with a baby who refused to sleep in the car, a broken dvd player and a very agitated mommy in order to get there. Oh, but it was SO worth it all. We played on the dark sandy beaches of the Washington coast, hiked through a rain forest, Amelia even let her Aunt Sue teach her to ride a two-wheeler (thank you, cousin peer pressure!). It was a wonderful reunion with Dallan's family.

AND THEN...

We got home from Washington and found even MORE cousins to play with! My two brothers, whose families live back east, came for a visit. We went to the zoo, played a lot at Grandma's house, and then went CAMPING! My grandmother, of 92 years, organized a reunion for all of her posterity in the campground my family went to year after year while growing up. It is a place filled with wonderful family memories for me. It was fun to take my own family there. Although it seemed to rain more on our Idaho campout than it did the entire time we were in Washington, which seemed a bit backward to me, we still had a good time.

This is my grandma, sitting on the red coat pictured above! She was amazing to have put this together for all of us.
My sister Kim, and cousin Janae painted a lot of fingers and toes. Lucy was happy as could be to be pampered!

I'm back, but it'll take a while to get caught up!

2010-12-12T22:03:00.000-08:00

I realize that it has been, well, 7 months since a post here. Sorry. I haven't had time, but I will be trying to get caught up within the week. Expect MULTIPLE posts at a time (if you care.) Mostly this will be for me, and my journaling purposes, but you are more than welcome to read along!

The Grand Finale: 5K and a Parade

2010-07-08T20:02:00.000-07:00

Freedom Festival, 2010

Back in April my friend Valynn had mentioned that she (along with many co-workers) were going to sign up for the Freedom Festival 5K run, and that was the beginning of a running partnership. We decided to train so that we could run a full 5K without looking like the n0n-runners that we were. We used couch to 5K program, and we were both completely astonished that it worked! Both of us, who had never been very good at running without getting winded, within 8 weeks were able to run a full 5K without stopping and could carry on a comfortable conversation the entire time and not feel like jell-o by the end or that our hearts were jumping from our chests! So it really works, folks! I'm a runner now! Our goal was to complete the race in under 30 minutes. We did it in 28.

That's me in the pig-tails and black shorts, in the middle. Valynn is next to me in the grey shorts. The finish line was in view.
Made ya look, didn't I?! It was a bottle. I covered him because I was an idiot and forgot to pack warm things for my supportive children to wear at 7 in the morning! Poor Matthew was brought with nothing but a onesie on, and it was COLD! All three of my children had blue lips and goose bumps when I found them at the finish line. Oops! I learned a lot about race prep, mostly because of error, but we all survived!
We also all went home and took naps later on. Poor things. They were so excited to come and watch the race though, but 6:00 came all too early for everyone!

After the race, we walked down to the parade route which was easily a mile away, and once the sun came out over the mountain all complaints about being cold quickly vanished. We found great seats right up on the road next to some really nice Grandparents. It was a fun parade.
They had a bunch of these really big balloons. Curious George was my girls favorite balloon.
But this was the most popular attraction on the parade, hands down. Cinderella! This poor girl was probably the last one off the parade route. She was mauled by just about every child along the parade route, and folks, this is Provo! There are a LOT of kids! It took her 15 minutes just to get past our little spot.
The other great feature on the parade, which I didn't catch a picture of and I wish I had, was the cast members from "CATS" the musical were on a float. My girls just LOVE this musical, ever since their sweet cousins introduced it to them in February. They can sing almost every song and were so excited to see the beautiful white cat, among others, coming down the road on the Tuachan theater float.
But then, when it was all over, we had to find our car again. We didn't plan this very well. Dallan parked for the race, which made lots of sense at 6:00 in the morning, but at 11:00, when we needed to go home we faced a 2 mile walk back to our car, uphill... with three kids and a double stroller. UGH! It was hot, we were all tired, and we didn't make it to the car until after noon. Thank heaven for that little oasis of a pizza store on our way. It truly saved the day!

It was an Independence Day weekend to remember.

Freedom

2010-07-08T19:51:00.001-07:00

I'm so thankful for freedom. It's something we experience every day of our lives, and yet I believe can be easily forgotten of taken for granted. It is what allows us to speak, to believe, and experience life with our families how and what we may. People sought out this land for freedom of religion, and I believe God blessed this land to be a place where people could come to become closer to him. I'm truly proud to be an American!

My children are too, even if they don't know it yet.

Fireworks

2010-07-08T19:05:00.000-07:00

Well, with the 4th on a Sunday this year, Independence Day seemed to go on FOREVER! Which I was okay with. The weekend was lots of fun. We started the holiday off with a "bang" and played around with fire. Lucy insisted on bringing her fire hat to the Haslam's for dinner that evening, because where there is fire you must have fire safety. We all felt safe with with Lucy around. The Haslam's have been my friends since high school, and we happen to have children that all correspond closely in age. So it's been fun living near them again. The girls have become close friends with their girls, in fact every time we see them they all seem to sporaticly burst into affectionate hugs. They were just being stinkers when I tried to get them in a picture. We had a fun BBQ, followed by some good fireworks in the street, then we left the husbands to put babies to bed and us 6 girls went to watch the stadium of fire fireworks in Provo. It was good enough motivation for my kids to all nap REALLY well that afternoon, otherwise this wouldn't have been possible. We didn't get home until after 11:00, easily the latest my kids have ever been up! It was a lot of fun!

Amelia and Quincy

Lucy and Eleanor

Sparklers were a fun first experience

Stadium of Fire, viewed from Fox Field in Provo. Dallan did experiment once the booms could be heard and said he could see the highest fireworks from the porch of our house, and many of our ward members just watched from our church parking lot.

Dinosaur Train Party

2010-06-14T21:15:00.001-07:00

PBS has a new show this year, the Dinosaur Train, which Amelia and Lucy have fallen in love with. The dino characters are completely lovable, and perfect for the young imaginative mind to relate to. So, Amelia requested a dinosaur train birthday party this year. It was supposed to be held outside in our backyard, but it decided to rain when the birthday party was scheduled for. We were flexible, and adjusted our gathering activity from digging for dino's in the sandbox to making junior conductor hats. The kids seemed to really like the hats, and some even kept them on the entire party. So that was a success.

We played dino games, like "What time is it Mr. T-Rex?" and I thought it was really cute how each child that was it had a favorite dinosaur and so it was, Mr. Allosaurus, and Mr. Stegasaurus, and Mr. Aubreyasaurus... you get the idea. They had a blast playing this game. We tried played "Hot Lava Rock", like hot potato, and whether it made the kids nervous or what, only 5 of the kids wanted to participate in this game. So we moved on.
Amelia planned the refreshment table, and I loved her idea. We had a carnivore plate (with chicken, on bones, a very important factor for Amelia), an herbavore plate (fruits and veggies) and a bowl of goldfish for the pteranadons. We found some great little straw cups at a party store for really cheap, and each child got to write their name on one, and take it home with them. So we had juice and water to go with the snacks (and ZERO spills! A success in itself with 14 kids in the house!).

My friend Valynn was a HUGE help, and made this adorable pin the tail on the t-rex game. This is Buddy, the T-rex from the show. The kids seemed to really enjoy this game, too!
We also had a pinata, but I didn't get pictures, probably because we were all trying to protect children from getting whacked with the bat. But they had a good time with that. Then we had present opening. The kids liked grabbing the present they brought and personally presenting, and often helping to open it. So that was fun!
And just look at this super fun cake! I owe all credit to my dad for this. He decorated all of our cakes growing up (which I added up to be 20+ years of cake decorating in our house. 40 if you think of the 8 years for all 5 of us kids... that's a lot of cakes!) and while I struggled with the idea in my own mind, he kindly stepped in to help. It was BEAUTIFUL! And done in less than 2 hours. Thanks, dad!
It was such a fun party. I usually don't like throwing parties, but this one was fun. I liked how involved Amelia was in planning it, and the kids had such a great time. But I'm really glad I have at LEAST 2 years before I plan another one!

Tastes

2010-06-14T06:08:00.001-07:00

It's so much fun to stick stuff in a baby's mouth for the first time. I don't know if it's just the reaction I love, or what it is, but I think it's a lot of fun to give a baby food tastes for the first time. Matthew hasn't had many tastes, but so far cries if he has to eat banana, doesn't really respond with favor to rice cereal, but LOVES to handle apple pieces, carrot sticks and jicima slices and will actually swallow apple sauce with some favor. We'll expand this cute gerber baby's pallet! Isn't he cute?!

To Be Free

2010-06-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

Don't we all wish we could live this freely?
(yes, Lucy is outside in her birthday suit. And no, I did not encourage this, but found it. As for Matthew, I heard him grunting one morning around 7:00 am, but he quieted down so I left him alone. At 8:30 when he still hadn't woken up, I peaked in and found him like this. That is poop on his back. Warm and cozy folks, warm and cozy!)

Four Staples and a Funeral

2010-05-30T21:02:00.000-07:00

Well, we've became true parents this week. I think it's a requirement for all parents to have to deal with stitching, super-gluing or stapling back together one of their children (at least one anyway) and we've been initiated finally. After 5 years of a clean record, it's about time. And how did I know that child would be Lucy? She's the more carefree of the girls, also the most reckless at times. But this one wasn't even because of some daredevil stunt.

Here is the accused. What crime, might you ask? Oh let's just say it was all a big spit up, I mean slip up.Innocent looking, right?! Don't be fooled by those big brown eyes. Sure, he's cute, but he is most definitely the culprit here.

Friday night we were getting the kiddos ready for bed. Amelia was declared the tired one for the day and was already in her bed, but Lucy was hanging out with Matthew and me. We were expecting some friends from Holbrook to come and play games, so I motioned for Lucy to follow me upstairs to get Matthew ready for bed, and then she would go to bed. Well, the good big sister that she is, she grabbed a handful of toys for Matthew to play with while I started for the stairs. And that's when he spit. It wasn't even voluminous, like most times, I kind of sighed and said to myself, its only a tiny spit, I'll clean it later, and continued up the stairs. Well, poor Lucy found that pile of spit, and the next thing I knew, there was a loud thud, and a loud cry and Lucy was on the floor. We consoled her, and thought all was well. Then I saw the blood drops on her shirt. When I went to investigate -- I couldn't make it through her hair because of all the blood in her hair. Still not thinking it serious, I carried her upstairs to the bathroom to wash out the blood, and then I saw the lovely open wound. I had never seen a wound before that had me thinking "stitches", so this was my first. Just then, of course, our friends showed up. Which turned out to be a blessing, they offered to watch Matthew and Amelia, and off we went to the Instacare.

One thing was determined in all of this -- Lucy is the bravest little girl I know. I'm glad she was my first child to need stitches, and I'm glad her sister has never needed them. She would have puked on the doctor or something had it been her. But not Lucy. She sat very calm the entire time. On the way there, we were reciting nursery rhymes like Humpty Dumpty, and Jack and Jill, and Lucy then had it in her mind that the doctors would put her brain back together again. They chose to staple the cut instead of glue or stitch it, which I thought was interesting. I had never seen a doctor staple someone. It really is just a stapler they use! I'm sure it claims to be a medical stapler, but a staple is a staple, and they shoved four of them into my little girl's head. The saddest part were the tears that streamed down her very still face while they were numbing the area, and then putting the staples in. I think I was saying comforting words to comfort myself more than her! But she was brave!! Brave, brave little Lucy! And they haven't fazed her since. I couldn't be more proud!

As for the funeral, after 7 1/2 years of delicious waffles, our beloved little Toast Master waffle maker died.
It did have the decency to wait until the last waffle of the morning had been poured though. It was a faithful little thing. But with that, we decided it was a good time for an upgrade. We like waffles, I hate to admit it but my children probably have syrup meals about 3 times a week. (sometimes more...) So we looked in America's Test Kitchen cookbook for a product recommendation and went with their economical recommended waffle maker, the Black & Decker grill and waffle baker. Works pretty nicely, although they said they came out evenly done, and ours had some heat variation. But still made some pretty good waffles!
And look! It makes 4 squares at once!! That's probably my favorite part!

Little Girls

2010-05-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

What are little girls made of?
Sugar and Spice and all that's nice,
That's what little girls are made of.

Yes, the tongue is a completely necessary part of putting make up on. No, my children should not have access to make-up, but how can you oppose something so darn cute?! I especially liked the one glove look she was pulling.

I'm Sure Glad I Have a Sister

2010-05-26T08:55:00.000-07:00

I was just thinking how grateful I am that I have a sister. She is great! I think back to when we were kids and how all I wanted was to be like her, to be with her (much to her chagrin), and how much I simply idolized her. She didn't like pineapple, so I didn't like it either (even though I had never tried it.) Even after she moved into her own bedroom I often would wander downstairs just to sleep in the same room as her. After all these years, she's still my hero. I love her to pieces, and I'm glad we are friends.

She got to come visit for mother's day with her husband Jeremy. It was so fun to see her! I know these family visits end up being so exhausting and kind of whirlwind-ish, (especially when you get your company sick... sorry for that you guys!) but wow, it was great to see them!
They were good sports and came boucy-castling with us, and I think we all realized that bouncy castles are for the young - and not the young at heart.
Uncle Jeremy helped the girls build forts, and roast pretend marshmellows over a pretend campfire. Uncles are great!! And then we spent our Saturday doing service for our mom for mother's day. Amelia rode her bike for hours through the cold-a-sac, and Lucy...
Well, she planted herself in the yard.
Sisters are amazing. I'm glad God created sisters.

Falling in Love

2010-05-24T08:23:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time...
Two people fell in love and were married. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, love was in the air, it was a completely perfect way to start a new and exciting life together.

Seven years later...
it snowed on the day of their anniversary. (thanks for not snowing 7 years ago!)

Well, those two people worked hard and finished their education.
filled seven years with completely blissful and perfect memories together...

And oh yeah, created a beautiful family together...

We had no idea what we had gotten ourselves into.
Sorry honey. You're stuck with me! But you know you love it!!

I am a lucky, lucky woman to have such a funny, romantic, adorable and wonderful husband. Did I mention how patient and understanding he is, too? Seven years. And they have been the best seven years of my life. Forever is gonna be fun!

Too Tight

2010-05-23T18:24:00.000-07:00

Amelia finished off her dance class for the year tap-tap-tapping away to the tune of "Puttin' on the Ritz". I think I'll rename the tune for her, "puttin' on the tights"... she hates all clothes that are itchy, tight, cold, "weird" and just about threw in the towel a month ago because of annoyance with the dress standard of dance classes. But this class has been great for her. Although I don't think she'll grow up to be a professional dancer (and may not ever choose to take dance classes ever again) she did it, and did really well. I was so proud of her, watching her learn from a teacher and she always did her best to do what teacher Erin told her to do. She's going to do so great in school this year! Wow! My little girl starts school in 3 months. But she's ready. She loves the interaction with others, with a teacher, friends, friends, friends. This girl LOVES to have friends. She'll be her own kind of little miss popular, but the kind of popular that people love because she makes them feel loved and they feel good being with her. She's a good kid. I love her to pieces, even when she was complaining of tights and leatards being too tight and feeling weird all over. She's amazing! I love her lots and lots!

Isn't she just the cutest thing ever?! Yeah, I know I'm a bit prejudice.

Empathy

2010-04-28T18:27:00.000-07:00

Never mind. It was the stomach flu.

It's My Party, And I'll Cry If I Want To!

2010-04-24T07:17:00.000-07:00

Well, Lucy is officially a three year old. She is an absolute joy! For her birthday, she really wanted nothing more than a spider web of balloons in the house. She was such a fun two year old, saying silly things, giving sweet, sweet hugs, learning so many new things. I can't wait to watch the three year old Lucy learn and grow. She wants to start dance classes this year, and has worked very hard to be 100% potty-trained JUST so she can go to dance class. She likes to figure stuff out, and I'm pretty sure she'll be making herself scrambled eggs or pancakes one of these mornings while I'm sleeping! She's so smart, so fun and I love her to pieces.

Unfortunately she's had a rough couple of weeks. A little over two weeks ago, she wasn't wanting to eat very much. At first it didn't seem abnormal (because kids tend to go up and down with appetite anyway) but Saturday two weeks ago today, she didn't eat anything and I went to bed a little worried. That night she woke up around 3:00 and for the first time in her life legitimately puked. Problem was, there wasn't anything in her tummy to puke up. So it was pure acid, and it STUNK! She then threw up every hour on the hour for the following 6 hours. I was able to get her to eat a cracker or two, and sent Dallan to the store for some Gatorade, and she would get that in her tummy and then throw it up. So we assumed, a stomach bug got her. We all stayed home from church, exhausted, and traded off taking naps. After a nap, Lucy seemed to feel much better, and didn't throw up anymore that afternoon. She still didn't eat much, and really didn't eat for about 4 days after. The following weekend she started eating and acting much better! I thought we were done. Then Monday evening, the food strike began again, and out came the puke just after bedtime. This time it lasted 3 hours and she spent the night next to me in bed. Tuesday, not much food, but she felt better. Wednesday while eating chicken noodle soup (and she had eaten a good amount) she coughed and out it came all over the kitchen. Another long night.

Thursday I finally decided to take her to the doctor. He poked her, had her pee in a cup, checked her ears, and every other theory was tested as to why this little girl wasn't feeling well. He finally came to the conclusion that she was slightly dehydrated from being sick and her tummy had just become incredibly sensitive from the bug she had had. He said she wasn't contagious from whatever it was (and no one else in the family has gotten this), but if the throwing up persisted we may consider putting her in the hospital for blood tests and rehydration. So I got her drinking small amounts of gatorade often, but she still threw up that afternoon after her nap. Then again last night just after going to bed, both ends at the same time, and we were up until midnight!

I don't write this to make you squeemish, I'm actually hoping for some potential input as to why this is going on. We almost took her to the hospital last night, but after a conversation with the on-call doctor, and confirming no intense abdominal pain or fever, decided to stay home and keep on the same track we've been on. I just want my baby girl to feel better! She's completely miserable and didn't even eat any of her birthday dinner, or cake. In fact every time food was present, she just quietly wandered up to her room and shut the door. She's very frustrated, and I am too! Any ideas? She's too cute to feel this miserable.

Matthew Moments

2010-04-15T11:27:00.000-07:00

My little guy is starting to get so big! His talents are developing so nicely, and have expanded from expert spitter, to fist swallower and toe grabber. He's also practicing his sleeping skills and has some good days now. He's officially moved out of our room into a room of his own (such a big step) and last night slept a whole 8 hours in there, all by himself! I am a very proud mommy right now. What an amazing little guy I have!

(I'm not much of a decorator, but actually finished a nursery for my first time! It's a HUGE accomplishment for me.)

The Easter Bunny

2010-04-07T18:35:00.001-07:00

We thought the Easter Bunny would enjoy some carrots this year in exchange for some candy.

We were right!!!!
The girls even duly noted the bits of chewed up carrot he seemed to have left behind and thought he was surely one of the messiest bunnies ever!
He even left a little something for Matthew.

Easter Egg Hunt

2010-04-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

Oh, spring, where art thou?

2010-04-05T21:11:00.000-07:00

I'm confused. Which holiday were we supposed to have celebrated yesterday?
Spring, please come to stay.
Easter 2010

Food Storage: Hard Core

2010-03-30T18:03:00.000-07:00

Today I had the privilege of meeting a food storage enthusiast named Martha. Wow, she had a system for her family, and it WORKED! Just for the wow factor, she said that her little family of 5 (2 adults, 2 teenagers and 1 pre-teen) were able to now live on a budget of $175 a month on food. Okay, I'm feeding the same number of people, much smaller people, and one of them probably shouldn't count since I eat his portion of nutrients, but I spend double that a month on groceries. So what was she doing?! I thought I'd share some of the things I learned, and although I probably will not adopt her system or her budget necessarily, she had such a well balanced system, there was more than enough information and advice to work into my own system and thus improve our way of life.
MENU:
*Martha: makes a two month menu (takes her about an hour and a half planning every 2 months) of breakfasts and dinners. She writes on her calendar sheet the food storage grain/staple that the meal will include: ie. beans, rice, wheat ect. so that she is rotating and using a variety of grains in her long term food storage.
*Stephanie: makes a one month menu and it seems to be enough for me. Dinners mostly. So I feel alright in this area.
*Improvement: I want to try using more grains and incorporate more dry grains in my food storage. I found out today you can cook beans in a crock pot with little effort, so I am going to learn how to prepare more things from scratch like beans and lentils.
SHOPPING:
*Martha: Only shops the sales. Now I realize, she has her year supply of every day foods already working in her basement, and that is a process over time, and I think that factor is the greatest contributing factor to her current food budget of $175/month. So this is attainable, after some serious thought, time, and work for anyone. She had a list she had created of the ingredients she used most often and an estimated number of how much. When she noticed the items in a sale, she did a quick inventory of her storage room and then restocked the shelf at sale price. That way she is always eating at the lowest possible cost out of pocket. For example, pastas were 50 cents/lb last week, she said she left the store with 30 lbs of spaghetti. She does go to the store weekly, but says some weeks she is only leaving the store with broccoli and apples, the rest is already at home.
*Stephanie: I have a three month list of ingredients I like to have on hand, but this is definitely an area I can improve. I never feel I have a clear idea of what I have in my pantry and storage.
*Improvement: I will now expand my list, and organize my shelves, so I can more accurately shop when things go on sale to really fill the need.
THE FREEZER:
*Martha: has THREE freezers! A chest freezer dedicated to meats, a stand up freezer for everything else, and the fridge/freezer in her kitchen for things that are opened, being used, or left-overs. Yes folks, she freezes her left-overs from dinners, and the hubby takes them for lunches. She cooks a whole bunch of beans at a time and freezes them in smaller quantities to pull out and use. She buys 4 gallons of milk a month when they go on sale, and pours off one-two cups of milk from each one and freezes them. (Speaking of milk, she also stretches her milk with 3/4 dry milk 1/4 regular... I don't think I could do this.) That way she always has milk on hand. She has boxes or bins in her freezers to separate things, so she had a box for frozen fruits, a box for grated cheeses, she even freezes dairy products such as whipping cream, sour cream and cottage cheese. (although I hear these do come out altered...) Her chest freezer has quadrants in it to keep the meats organized so she can always find what she needs. Oh, so much more, but my brain couldn't absorb it all!
*Stephanie: My freezers are a mess! I was looking through the other day and had considered cooking up the "mystery meat" I found just for fun. I do have two freezers, a chest freezer and a fridge/freezer. I do notice that the things in the fridge/freezer get freezer burn if I don't use them quickly enough. We like to freeze things though, brown rice is a great one. We will make up a big pot and freeze it to use when we want to add some fiber to our rice meals. I have also made full meals, ie lasagna, enchiladas, casseroles... and frozen them ready to cook which is helpful in a pinch.
*Improvements: I want to get bins!! What a novel idea to help the organization! I also think I'll buy cheese and milk in greater quantities and try freezing them since it's something our family goes through a lot of (when they are on sale).

WHEW! I'm tired just reviewing those few things. It really was a little exhausting listening to Martha share her techniques. I came home wanting a nap. She has the mentality of a complete organizer, and I unfortunately wasn't blessed with this gift. But I was blessed with the gift of learning. So I can learn while I watch others. There was so much more she went over, and as I act on what I learned, I'll share more... but I think I'll start with this much for now.

Thanks for being my accountability, oh faithful Blogger.

Jesus Loves Me

2010-02-14T20:22:00.001-08:00

Amelia gave her first church talk in Primary today. Her topic was "Jesus Loves Me" and with some conversation about the topic and me with a pen and paper in hand, I wrote down her talk for her. This was all Amelia. I was very proud of her.

"Jesus shows his love for me in so many ways. I know that Jesus created me and this world. I know that He gave me my body. I know that He will protect me and help me to know that He is really there. I know He shows his love by being kind and nice to the children. I know that He can help me be nice to my brother and sister. I know that He'll help me be nice and He'll show his love for me. I know He love's my friend, Faith, and we can love our friends like Jesus loves us. I know I can learn about Jesus' love for us when I read the scriptures, and i know He'll help me learn to read. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

Later in conversation (and not included in the talk,) she adds,

"Well, He wanted to die so all His little ones could be resurrected."

Amelia, your testimony is amazing and wonderful! I love my sweet girl. I really didn't know being a parent and watching your children learn to do such big things could feel this rewarding. It's nice, and I love being a mom!

Family Fun: A Visit to the Aquarium

2010-02-06T18:25:00.000-08:00

I love it when our Saturdays turn into a family fun day. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it's like a breath of fresh air to get out and do something all together. Today we ventured to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy for the first time. I have to say, I was impressed! When we got there, the outside looked like a painted up old grocery store (So I had my doubts) , but inside was like a giant fish zoo, with fish of all kinds, frogs of all kinds, they even had a giant anaconda AND a tank full of sharks. Amelia loved the petting pools, one with stingrays and the other with various starfish. Lucy liked finding Nemo and the seahorse display. It was a really fun place. Saturdays seem a little busy, but they did all sorts of feedings and shows, probably because of the crowds. I am actually really looking forward to a return visit with my family. What a fun day!

Seahorses, Jellies, and Sharks, Oh MY!

I think we went to the ray tank at least 5 times.
Amelia couldn't get enough.

Finding Nemo

Baby Smiles

2010-01-27T19:27:00.000-08:00

I couldn't believe I actually caught his first smile on camera, but I did it! It was after a good nights sleep and a full belly, I was talking to him and he looked at me and grinned a very big, very deliberate grin. I just love these first moments with my babies.

He's been practicing facial expressions ever since.8 weeks old today.

The Little Fairy Dance

2010-01-26T19:58:00.000-08:00

Amelia has been dancing for 5 months now with the Hale Center Theater and LOVES it. She knows and anticipates Sunday's, because the day after Sunday she goes to dance class. I never was much of a dancer, so I'm really glad my daughter is having the opportunity to learn to dance somewhere. Maybe it will give her more grace and confidence on the dance floor later on than I ever had. Speaking of confidence, she had her first ballet recital today. It was so cute! The little girls did their very best and had a lot of fun. Amelia didn't seem nervous at all to be in front of all the people, and when I asked her if it was scary or fun, she told me it wasn't scary at all. What a good experience for her.

A Day of Rest.

2010-01-17T18:14:00.000-08:00

Well, today was comical. To the point of complete exhaustion, comical. Sunday's are not my favorite day as a mom. I think I used to like Sunday's and I think I might like them again someday. But for now I strongly dislike them. I will refrain from hating them, because I might get struck down by lightning if I were to say that. So for now, I strongly dislike.

Today was especially exhausting. My girls haven't napped or slept really well in weeks, the baby isn't going to bed until sometime after midnight and I am just tired. But I told myself I would make it to church today, ALL of church. So I took my shower, put on make-up (which seems to be happening less and less often lately) and got ready. However, that isn't enough for a mom. Not with 3 little ones anyway. I then had to chase down two little girls, fix their hair, find their dresses, tights, shoes ect. In all of that taking multiple breaks to feed a baby, change a baby and put a baby down for naps. (Oh and I think I also forgot to mention Lucy has decided to be a big girl this week and we are in the middle of potty training her... which really means training ME) Then I had to entertain the little girls who were bored and becoming destructive. (Did I mention how tired I already was?) Luckily paper and pencils did the trick. But then I had to find them all food (again) with just enough time to eat a couple bites of food myself before the baby cried (again). So already pushing time I made the decision to get the family to church before feeding the baby, otherwise everyone would be late for their classes. So he (the baby) cried, a lot, while we shuffled off to church (late). Dallan had to drop us off at the curb for lack of parking, and so me and the three kids (one screaming and two with dirty faces) ran into church (I mean, walked oh so reverently...) where I gave a quick wet wipe to each of the dirty faces and sent them to class while I hurried off to the mother's lounge with a screaming baby. I made it in to Relief Society for the closing song. That was nice. Now time to take Lucy to the bathroom.

Our Sacrament Meeting is last, and I was asked to say the invocation for the meeting, which I foolishly thought would work. However in the shuffle of girls needing to go to the bathroom and getting to the chapel, Matthew decided it was time to eat again. So Dallan held the screaming baby out in the foyer until I had said the prayer and then without pausing from the pulpit, off I went to the mothers lounge. 30 minutes later I rejoined my family, when Lucy requested to use the restrooms. So up I was again. Finally thinking I could sit and enjoy the meeting with my family, Lucy realized she had unfinished business and needed more time on the potty. Ugh! And this time it involved a pants clean up and excited declarations of success from her while she was sitting in her stall. By the time she was done, the meeting was near done, but when we got back to the pew I was handed Matthew who had decided he wanted a turn getting his pants changed. Off I went AGAIN to the bathrooms, where upon removing the boys diaper he started pooping all over the changing pad.

And that was church today. Followed by no naps. The phrase "a day of rest" must be referring to some other group of people. Cause it sure ain't one here.

A Bless-ed Day

2010-01-14T19:06:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for the big day

Doesn't he look so handsome in his little bow tie and vest?
I love this little guy so much!

The proud parentsThe crazy trioOne big happy, eternal familyMatthew and his Maternal HeritageThe Paternal bunchThe Grandparents It truly was a blessed day!
Matthew Dallan Simper - January 3, 2010

And The Answer Is...

2010-01-14T18:56:00.000-08:00

1. Matt
2. Matt
3. Lucy
4. Amelia
5. Matt
6. Amelia
7. Matt
8. Lucy
9. Amelia
(See previous post...)

Guess Who?

2010-01-08T18:44:00.000-08:00

I am absolutely amazed by genetics! We had a wonderful visit with Dallan's parents last weekend and the discussion arose a couple times about who looked like who, and where certain identifying marks came from. This conversation left me curious and looking back through baby photos of my babies. Honestly, I was shocked! First of all, I don't know that I would have recognized some of the photos I came across (especially of Amelia when she was tiny) and second, I couldn't believe the incredible similarities between my children. So I made a quiz.

It's SIMPER GUESS WHO!!
Can you tell who is who?

Aren't genetics fun? And just look at where this lovely set came from:

My Little Cuties

2010-01-07T14:46:00.000-08:00

These sweet little girls are making this transition to three so much easier for me. Amelia loves her little siblings with an unconditional love. Lucy loves her big sister more than anything in this world (and is starting to love Matthew more and more each day). But the fact that these two little girls have each other to play with, and scheme with, makes life feel doable. I am so grateful for my little family.

No Crying He Makes

2010-01-06T20:49:00.000-08:00

One of our family traditions for Christmas is to reenact the nativity. It is the part of Christmas Eve that Amelia in particular looks forward to the most. She was especially excited to play the part of Mary this year (mostly so she could have Matthew...) However, our baby Jesus didn't seem to understand the part "no crying he makes."

Meet the cast:

Amelia and Matthew as Mary and Jesus
& Lucy as the Shepherd

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

2010-01-06T19:26:00.000-08:00

Just a glimpse at what Christmas was like at our house this year. There weren't any Schnitzel with noodles, but there were a few favorite things acquired.
Say Cheese! Both girls got camera's for Christmas. Amelia thought that was the best thing in the whole wide world. However, I think she likes it more for the extra games that she can play on it than she does for the picture taking. Someday, I'll help her make a book of the pictures she takes and we'll call it "Name that Knee."
Candy! Candy! Candy! It's all Lucy wanted for Christmas. She was found with kisses and dum dums all morning ALL around the house. She even took her candy for a ride, sorted by type, size, and flavor on our new snow sled.

And these are three of my most favorite things.
The Simper's Merry Christmas 2009 (note the candy!)

First Christmas

2009-12-29T18:25:00.000-08:00

Did you know that the name Matthew mean's "a gift from God"? It was one of the main reason's I wanted to use the name, because he feels like my little gift from Heaven.

The best gift

That I ever got
Didn’t really weigh a lot
It didn’t have a ribbon ’round
And it sometimes made a terrible sound
The best of all it seems to me
It wasn’t neath the Christmas tree
And yet, I guess I’d have to say
That it made all the other presents twice as gay
The best gift that I’ve ever known
I’d always wanted most to own
Yet in my dreams of sugar and spice
I never thought it could be so nice
The best gift that I ever get
Was sometimes dry and sometimes wet
Was usually pink but oftentimes red
As it lay so innocently in it’s bed
The best gift of the year to me
The one I hold most dear to me
A gift that simply drove me wild
Was a tiny new born child...
Barbara Streisand's: The Best Gift

Thanks to my sister-in-law, Heather, for bringing this wonderful song to my attention.

All I Want For Christmas is a Picture

2009-12-29T12:26:00.001-08:00

It was Christmas Eve, I just wanted one good picture of my 3 kids by the Christmas tree. At first their general attitude was a bit unwilling...
Almost...

Success! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! More from our Christmas celebration will be posted very soon. (I hope.)

Sweet Boy

2009-12-13T14:58:00.001-08:00

Okay, I know I'm biased... but I just think this boy is the cutest baby boy in the whole world. I feel so blessed to have little Matthew in our family.Prayer works. :)

Snow Angels

2009-12-13T14:43:00.000-08:00

Snow, snow and more snow. Living on the side of the mountain is proving to be quite interesting weather wise. We've had quite the week of snow! The girls are learning that there are different kinds of snow for different purposes. This was the coldest and driest of the snow this week -- perfect for snow angels. Yesterday we had pack snow falling -- perfect for snowmen and snowball fights -- which was also taken advantage of. And today it is officially snowing snow cones outside. Slush is literally falling from the sky! I think my little Arizona family is doing pretty well acclimating to this new and exciting weather condition! (As the primary shoveler of the house, however, Dallan might beg to differ... )

Matthew's Arrival: The Extensive Edition

2009-12-05T06:06:00.000-08:00

The miracle of life is so utterly impressive, awesome and just completely miraculous to witness. This week my little miraculous wonder was talk of the town! Matthew Dallan Simper was born Wednesday December 2nd at 3:01 am, and this is my story... with all the juicy details!

After a week and a half of miserable contractions, aches everywhere and just the feeling of overall doneness, I was feeling ready to do anything I could to have my body back to just being me. My family was dragging me on hikes down the mountain, we were raking leaves, going for walks, Dallan even one night convinced me to do a lunge (which was a big mistake!). Tuesday I had my complete emotional breakdown, and the tears flowed almost all day. I decided there was NOTHING I could do to encourage my baby to come, and so I gave up and SAT all day, and cried. All that self inflicted pain seemed like a complete waste. So, Tuesday was rough.

That night before bed we reminded the girls, yet again, that if Mommy and Daddy weren't in their bed when they woke up, that Grandma and Grandpa would be there, and baby brother would be being born at the hospital. And so my sweet Amelia said her prayers, and whether she was just having her own selfish desires spoken for, or she sensed my exhaustion, she prayed that baby brother would be born, TONIGHT. We kissed them both and then went downstairs, sat on the couch and started a movie.

Dallan had work to do and I sat up after the movie at my computer before waddling to bed. Around 11:00 I finally gave in to sleep. At 1:35 am I was abruptly awoken with a contraction that didn't feel terribly different than others I had experienced, but it hurt and lasted. Once I could get up, I went to the bathroom and then crawled back into bed, when another painful contraction hit. I looked at the clock and it had been exactly 5 minutes. So I sat up and stared at the clock, waiting to see if it happened again. (Now, I had done this on previous nights and had 2-3 consistent contractions but went back to sleep disappointed when they didn't continue.) Another lasting and painful contraction did come, however, and so at 1:50 am I decided to involve Dallan in my clock watching. Within the following 10 minutes it was the general consensus to go downstairs and get ready to go to the hospital. I wasn't curled over in pain yet, and was honestly a little hesitant still to call the neighbor and parents for fear that the contractions would end and I would have disturbed everybody's night for no reason. But alas, I trusted my instinct and we made the phone calls. The neighbor came by 2:15 am, and we were out the door.

Dallan has always had a secret desire to be driving his pregnant wife to the hospital, speeding through traffic, when a cop tries to pull him over and ends up escorting us to the hospital. Okay, I have to admit it sounds exciting, but the sirens sound like just another obstical between me and the hospital I'd rather NEVER experience. But seeing as the streets were empty at 2 in the morning, Dallan was all for speeding and running red lights. I believe he ran every stop sign and red light between our house and the American Fork hospital! Luckily most of the people in Utah county were asleep, so the streets really were empty. We called the doctor and repeated over and over to him, "this will probably be fast..." and "you need to meet us at the hospital..." and so the doctor finally agreed he'd stop at AF hosptial before going to another hospital he was already in route to go to for another delivery.

We arrived in record time at the hospital door, Dallan pulled up to the curb and ran in to get a wheelchair. The pain was just now becoming extreme. Dallan got me inside, and a doctor at the elevator saw us coming and held the door open for us. I share all these details to illustrate the LACK of delays between us and the delivery room! At 2:45 they had me in the bed, in the labor and delivery room, and discovered that I was dialated at 9 cm.

The next 15 minutes were quite a blur. There was a lot of running around, a LOT of pain, and a lot of moaning and screaming on my part. The doctor was found very quickly and I thought my water had broken because I was really feeling ready to push. The doctor explained that the baby was head down, but possibly turned a little and he wanted to check with an ultrasound. The machine was brought in and I believe he checked (although I have no recollection) just before I yelled out "I really need to push!" So everything was thrown to the wind and the pushes began. It was then the doctor actually broke my water for me and the real pain began! Wow! I have never been in so much pain! I could hear them saying to pull my legs in, to lift my back, but I felt paralyzed and had to push. I think I pushed 2, maybe 3 times, counting to 20 each time and that last push just giving my all and he was out!

Time of contraction starting 1:37 am.

Time of birth 3:01 am.

And the most incredible part, the baby was sunnyside up (which is much more painful and can often result in hours and hours of pushing) and when put on the scale weighed in at, can you believe, a solid 10 LBS! The doctor said more than once, "I'm glad I witnessed this. I wouldn't have believed it had I not been here," and the gossip among the nurses in the hall left me laughing out loud all morning!

Yeah, I was pretty shocked and also proud of myself to have pushed out a 10 pounder without any drugs! Wohoo!! Okay, but I don't know that I would repeat it or wish it upon anyone... but it was a shocker!

He's beautiful and strong and healthy. Everything a mother could ever ask for. And I'm sure I made this story much longer than you ever asked for. But it makes for a good story, don't you think?

Smattering of Photos

2009-12-02T18:30:00.001-08:00

Matthew Dallan Simper

Born December 2nd, 2009

10 lbs, 21 in

New Baby

2009-12-02T07:48:00.000-08:00

The baby was born this morning. It is a boy. Mother and baby are doing fine.

More details and pictures coming soon.

Insight into Dallan's thoughts

2009-09-30T21:10:00.000-07:00

When my belly moves, this is what Dallan thinks of. Apparently brothers have similar thoughts.

This is for you Evan:

Bellydancing Redefined

2009-09-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

(my apologies for the size of the video. I couldn't find a way to make it bigger, but when I do, I'll put some better wiggle footage up.)

Ballerina Amelia

2009-09-29T09:05:00.000-07:00

Isn't she cute?! I really wanted to start her in something extra-curricular before we had moved to Utah, and had great plans for her to start in Piano lessons. Well, we haven't found a piano teacher yet, but a good friend of mine here informed me of a dance class for 3-5 year olds she was putting her little girls in. When I asked Amelia if she wanted to learn to dance, she just lit up. She has been so excited about it since! We bought her a little leotard and she insisted on the skirt/tutu so she could twirl better.

I watched a little of their class today and was so impressed, and honestly excited, with the teacher and format of the class. She is actually learning to "Plie" and "Releve", and they point their toes and leap around the room. It's so cute!! The teacher reminds them to have beautiful arms, and move gracefully. Amelia is really loving it and I am really impressed on how well she seems to be following her teacher's instructions. She makes such a cute little ballerina.

The Clock is Ticking

2009-09-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

30 Weeks!

That's right! I have 10 weeks left to go, and I am counting down. Some people are shocked to find out I still have 10 weeks in this pregnancy, but I've found some very positive aspects to getting this large in my pregnancies (and yes, I do get bigger!)

First: As you can see in my horrible photo-shopped version of this picture, I carry my babies all out front.

What does this mean?

I have some theories:

I don't get sick in my pregnancies. Could this be (and this is only a theory) because the baby is in FRONT of all my internal organs, and therefore doesn't interfere with my stomach, digestive system, lungs ect.?

I don't have to pee an excessive amount while pregnant. Again, I think my baby sits in front of my bladder, not on top of it.

So, while I do get very large while pregnant, and shock many people with my largeness... I am grateful for my body and my babies. I have such easy pregnancies (for the most part) I can deal with being big out front.

A "Walk" through Zion's

2009-09-16T20:48:00.000-07:00

We spent Labor Day this year in Zion's National Park. It was BEAUTIFUL! However, 7 months pregnant and accompanied by 2 small children made for an interesting day...
We didn't expect the current or the depth when we got to the middle of the river. Dallan stood on the side lines taking pictures of our life-threatening activity! If we were going to fall in, he was determined to photograph it first, and THEN jump in and rescue his pregnant wife and children.
Then we decided to go for a hike. They said on the bus it was a nice, EASY walk. Ha! It was a steep, dirt .8 mile trail to a pool of water and then .5 miles out. Lucy climbed in my arms and fell asleep about .2 miles into the hike... You do the math.
Amelia on the other hand was a real trooper! She walked the entire hike with her fabulous hiking buddy, Grandma. She even spotted 1 fox, 4 deer, a squirell and lots of lizards on the hike.Isn't Zion's beautiful?! I'd like to go back sometime when I am not "great with child" and carrying sleeping toddlers so I can truly enjoy all the beauty it entails.

Drinking Fountain Rules

2009-09-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

You know how you tell your children to not put their mouths on drinking fountains?

Sometimes they do really well...
Maybe I should have also told them no drinking BELOW someone else who is drip drinking...AND ABSOLUTELY NO PIPE LICKING!!!
Okay, Lucy, that is just plain gross!

The Simper Pioneers

2009-08-23T20:53:00.000-07:00

If you had to go to Utah...
Would you walk there like the pioneers did?
Perhaps. But instead of a covered wagon, how about a truck the size of a train? Of course there will be extra stuff to pack...
So we'll have to pack our "wagon" anyway... Things were a bit tight, and some was left behind, but the most precious cargo made it in.There were some detours along the way. Stephanie had some unfinished official business that had to be taken care of before she could leave Arizona. It was very hard work!But at least she had GREAT company!!
When she finally regrouped with her family, there was a great Simper gathering in the beautiful White mountains of Arizona. Unfortunately we did have to bury some of the children along the way...
The Simper Six:And their cumulative 18 children:
And finally after crossing many hundreds of miles
we made it safe and sound at our new home in the foothills of Provo Utah.
And then there are the joys of unpacking upon arrival. There were a lot of fun things hiding in all that paper!!

And that's our own pioneer story of how we got to Utah.

Overdue Update

2009-08-18T14:30:00.000-07:00

Well, we have finally moved into our new house in Provo Utah! The boxes are (almost) unpacked, which I think is pretty good after only 2 weeks of being here. For an update of all our happenings:

Dallan's job is going well. He actually felt like he had a productive day yesterday for the first time.

However, his car isn't doing as well. It made it a week after we all got here and one of the fan belts and a/c decided to quit working. Argh! So, it's sitting in the driveway, and we are making due as a one car family until we can afford to fix it, AGAIN! The good news is, our house is only 2 miles from his work, so we can easily drive him there and back and I can still use the car. Yay for little blessings in disguise.

I've starting hanging pictures around the house this week, and Amelia made the comment a couple mornings ago, "well, this is starting to feel like our home now!" So that made me feel good.

After 3 1/2 weeks of absolutely NO sort of sleep schedule and late LATE bedtimes, the girls went to bed ALMOST on time last night and slept until 8:00 this morning... that is definite progress.

My mom and dad are only a few miles away from us, and it has been fun learning what it's like to have parents close by. Sunday dinners, someone to learn how to do canning with, having a fabulous garden to "borrow" yummy things from. :) This week we are going to bottle apple pie filling and apple sauce using the apples we've picked from a tree in our backyard.

We still don't have internet at our house, which I've found is quite annoying!! Although they are installing it Thursday, thank goodness. I mean, I can survive without it (as I sit at my mom's house using her internet... thanks mom) but its hard not to have my trusty google at my fingertips to find places and phone numbers, or facebook OR email!!! So I'll be glad when I can communicate with the outside world again from home.

We found out last night we officially have someone moving into our Mesa house the first of September, renting it. I'm really having to disconnect my heart from that little house, because honestly the thought of others living in it is hard for me. I wish we could sell it, but I have to be content renting it and not caring if things happen to it. sigh...

Oh, and I finally got a doctor's appointment scheduled for next week. It's only one month after I was supposed to have my last doctors visit, so that isn't TOO bad!

As for the baby no. 3, he's moving a LOT and I feel like I'm entering the third trimester... I'll be 24 weeks on Thursday (I think...) and I'm already feeling quite large. I'm entering my final clothing stage, where I can't get away with some of my maternity clothes anymore, and bending over is becoming a chore. The heartburn has decided to kick in as well. What do all these things tell me? I've crossed the halfway point and its the beginning of the end! :)

We are starting to feel like we belong though, and our daily routine is finally starting to stabilize itself. We are really counting our many blessings.

This is the Week

2009-07-26T20:53:00.001-07:00

We have spent an exciting weekend living amongst box mountains in preparation for our move this week. Besides forgetting half of the stuff I had intended to pull aside from the movers, we've had a really fun weekend. We have made 3 course meals with one skillet and a cheese knife, played box hide and seek, mixed a cake up in a water pitcher with a flimsy spoon (which turned out REALLY tasty by the way!!), its kinda been fun! The truck comes tomorrow to haul off all our stuff, followed by a week of cleaning, girls camp, family camping and a 12 hour ride in the car to our new home in Provo Utah!! I am planning on sending out address cards with our new address and stuff once we get life stable again, so if you want one, be sure to let me know (either leave a comment or email me your address and such...)
We have had so many wonderful friendships and experiences here in Arizona and will miss them terribly. I cried when I walked into my boxed up house Friday realizing that this was it. I was leaving the home I have loved for 3 years and the state I have called home for 8! But, I am bravely standing tall and looking forward to the exciting things to come.

When God closes one door in our lives, He always seems to open another.

Opperation Cat Transportation

2009-07-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the movie Bolt? In this Disney film there is a cat. This cat is quite bitter toward people because they seem to just pick up and move and leave the cat behind. Well, I'm starting to see why most people WOULD choose to ditch the cat when they move over states. It would be MUCH easier! Did we do this? Of course not! We had to make things extremely difficult and take the cat with us. What things did it make complicated? Well, first there was the complication of finding a rental house that would even allow a cat. Then there is the actual act of getting the cat to a place 12 hours from your home. And THEN there is the temporary housing for the said cat until you are able to move into your house. UGH! So...

Step 1: Convince the soon to be landlords that your cat is a sweet, loving and clean animal.

DONE.

Step 2: Buy $50 worth of supplies such as claw covers, kennel, hairball medicine and brush to help the temporary housing situation feel more comfortable.

DONE.

Step 3: Actually get the claw covers on the cat.

This almost worked. I think this morning there were 6 out of 10 still on her. Not bad for the first time applying them I think.

Step 4: Drug the cat with Benadryl to make her drowsy for the 12 hour ride in the car.

Now, this was only done by recommendation of the vet. However they failed to mention that it would make the cats mouth foam up like they had rabies and start spitting all over the place! Have you ever seen a cat spit?! It's very funny!

Step 5: Have the children reassure the crying cat that she would be okay and they love her.

Step 6: Send Dallan AND the cat (and the litter box, and cat food, and extra water and....) off on a 12 hour journey to Orem.

DONE.

So why do we love this cat so much? Oh yeah, because she's our cat and we'd never hear the end of it if we didn't do all this to bring her with us.

We're Moving!

2009-07-17T06:28:00.001-07:00

Well, I haven't posted anything in a while because I've been running around like a mad women ever since finding out our family is MOVING TO UTAH.

Dallan got a job with Ancestry.com in Provo and starts work on Monday. Yes, this Monday. We are actually packing his car (cat included) and sending him to Utah tomorrow.

You know that image of a giant rock that gradually starts rolling down a nice little hill that eventually turns into rolling down a mountain? Well, I think we just reached the edge of a mountain, and we're rolling fast now.

We got back last night (Dallan and I) from a house hunting trip to Utah. What seemed like 50 houses later, we found one that I think is absolutely dreamy! We will only be renting not buying, seeing as we own our house in Mesa and aren't fully sure what to do with it. But this is a house I could see living in for a while. It's in the foothills of Provo, tucked away in a beautiful neighborhood, it has a beautiful yard, TONS of space, it's 5 minutes from Dallan's work and he never has to leave our street to get to work, just has to go down a mountain on his way to work. :) Anyway, I'll post pictures when we get there and have pictures to post. But now that we have a place to live arranged it all seems much more real.

Dallan leaves tomorrow.

Movers are coming a week from today.

In two weeks we'll be at the homestead for a brief family visit, and then...

Utah.

The Most Beautiful Place on Earth

2009-07-03T06:34:00.000-07:00

The Whiting Homestead.

This has come to be a place I truly love. We had a quiet, lovely weekend catching creepy crawlies, playing in the trees, picking flowers, canoeing around the pond, and just hanging out as a family. What can get any better than that? And in such a beautiful place, too... ahh, the homestead.

The Whiting Homestead.

What other place on earth can you enjoy the rain quite like this?

Arizona Creepy Crawlies

2009-07-02T06:21:00.000-07:00

5 ft long Bull Snake

Horny Toad

Crawdad hunting.

Pretty brave, isn't she? And yes, THEY (Dallan and Amelia) boiled them and THEY ate them. Ok, just tasted, but she said she liked it. YUCK! I could hardly be in the same room as the things. She's braver than me, that's for sure. (or just crazier?!)

What Will Be, Number Three?

2009-07-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

The question of the year has been: Will Amelia get a baby brother, despite all odds? Could she truly pray herself a brother to come to earth? It was interesting getting various people's reaction to this question. Honestly, I worried myself that she would be terribly let down if we got pregnant and it was a girl. We have spent the last 6 months listening to her prayers, "and bless us with a baby brother..." and the last 4 months hearing her say, "thank you for sending me a baby brother," and "bless baby brother to come out soon". How do you not worry as a mother about her being terribly dissapointed?! But alas, I believe I was the doubting Thomas, because GUESS WHAT?!

It's a little hard to read what the doctor wrote, so allow me to clarify:

Top: Left Knee

Bottom: Right Knee
Middle: Wee-Knee
(I'm sure my son will greatly appreciate this someday...)

We are officially 18 weeks pregnant with a baby boy!! Hooray! It was so fun to see him, and know it was really a HIM. I've been feeling him move during the past couple weeks, and I could tell he was sitting quite low just based on where I felt him. This picture above is him kicking straight into my bladder. Won't that be fun in a couple weeks!! Oh, I can't even begin to tell you how happy, and humbled, I was at this ultra sound.

Okay, now about the prayer thing. I really think God was listening to a little girls prayers. But my sister-in-law got me thinking when she said, "kids are too smart sometimes. Or just in tune." And I started pondering on Amelia's desire for this brother. Could it be that God had a brother waiting to send to us, and Amelia knew it was time for him to be here, she could sense he was missing? I didn't want to have a third baby yet, actually I was quite against it at the beginning of the year. It was all this nudging from Amelia that started me thinking about it, which led to praying about it, which led to it happening almost immediately... Could it be that she just knew? I am starting to think so. Thanks Amelia, for all your faith.

BirthdAY PartAY

2009-07-01T05:56:00.000-07:00

Who: Kristen Yazzie

Where: Holbrook AZ
What: Turning 6 years old
We all got to participate in the festivities
and the next day...

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY DALLAN!

I love you, sweetheart. You are amazing in every way!
and it was quite the birthday party, homemade presents and all...

Amelia's Birthday in a Nutshell

2009-06-16T18:58:00.000-07:00

The Gift:
Hot new wheels.
So we went to the zoo to practice riding it, however we got distracted...

June 15, 2009

June 15, 2006

I guess you could say we are making a tradition of it. Amelia really wanted to ride the camel at the zoo on her birthday, but when we found out they were closed Monday's, she settled on the carousel. It's fun to see the change that has taken place in 3 years between photos.

The Dinner Request:
Tuna Noodle Casserole. Boring? Maybe. Is it her favorite? Definitely!!

and The Puppy Cake!

Amelia wanted a puppy dog cake, so I put my creative juices to the test and this is what came of it. Pretty good, huh? I was impressed with myself. I even made the cake from scratch AND the frosting. Now I bet you are really impressed! I was exhausted when the day was done, but all in efforts to make sure a little girl felt pretty special on her birthday. I think she did. Now I just need to figure out how to deal with a 4 year old in the house.

I Don't Even Know What to Call This Week

2009-06-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

What a week we have had here at Simper headquarters! Sheesh. All I can say is I'm glad that the week is over.

It started with an emotional break down on my part about being unemployed, topped with feeling totally guilty for procrastinating plans for my daughters birthday present. Thanks to Walmart and some very loving grandparents to contribute to her birthday fund, we were able to get her what I think is a pretty good birthday present. (I think she suspects, but I'll leave all of you in suspense until tomorrow.) So that relieved the stress a bit.

Then we had a really interesting turn on Wednesday. The car dealership where we purchased our van 3 years ago called and begged us to come in so they could give us an offer on our car. We just laughed. Now, we had been getting letters from them and other dealerships asking us to come in because of the high demand on our Mazda MPV (they quit making them the year we bought ours.) and we had just been ignoring them. With the phone call we decided we were curious what they would offer for it, so we agreed to amuse them at least that far.

Anyway... we dropped the girls off at a friends house and went to the dealership. The sales people jumped on us like hawks and started fighting over who got our van! (continued laughter.) Later we found out that they had been very short on sales, and the MPV's were sort of like having bait on your lot for more customers because they aren't common anymore. So 1: they wanted us to buy a new car and 2: they wanted to buy our car. We amused them for about an hour while they gave us offer after offer trying to sell us their new Mazda 5 in exchange for our van. We weren't even tempted until we were walking out the door and the salesman began groveling on the floor and pulled so many strings the offer started to look somewhat tempting. Ok, I know what you are all thinking... YOU DON'T HAVE A JOB!! We told them that and ourselves that, but when the deal came out that we wouldn't increase our payment by much, lower our mileage to where we had a new warrenty on a new vehicle AND he started throwing in 4 months of no payments on a car... I have to say we were tempted. We bit the bait. It made so much logical sense for now and in the future I couldn't resist. Judge all you want, it made sense and still makes sense (all except for the not having a job part... hmmm maybe that's why our economy is so in the pits!! They're getting so desperate they are throwing new cars at the unemployed population now!!) Have you ever done something because it made lots of logical sense but sounded completely stupid? That's how we felt. We did it to get out of a very upside down loan and avoid the pending repairs on our van we knew were around the corner. And hey, we got a pretty sweet ride out of the deal!

So 4 hours later, we took our new Mazda 5 home and said goodbye to my van (which I still miss sometimes, and Amelia was pretty upset to let go of. Now she very much likes what we are calling our "batmobile", its not really a van, but its not a car so that's the best we could come up with for her to call it.)

Oh, and did I mention that in the middle of this I had to come home to pick up the girls and in the process locked my keys in the house, which meant I had to break in (which I've been successful doing before.) However this time the window decided it didn't like me... one push and glass flew everywhere. So after a very long day at the dealership we had a mess of glass to clean up and Dallan got to spend the next day repairing a window. Oh, and did I also mention that we completely forgot about a wedding reception we were supposed to attend that evening? Yeah, I think I'll just chalk that whole day up to the pregnancy!!

The rest of the week had accumulating pressure that we were supposed to give talks on Sunday, today. Ugh. I actually decided I'd love preparing talks if it weren't for the fact that all day I'm chasing two pumpkin heads around the house and by the time the house is quiet to where I could think and read, my brain feels like a bowl of mush. So preparation was minimal until yesterday for both of us.

Oh, I forgot one of the most exciting bits of the week! Friday, Dallan was napping on the couch (after all that work I made him do to fix the window, he really deserved it!!) and the phone rang. He had interviewed last Thursday with a company in Utah and they had promised he would hear from them sometime the following week. It was like waiting on pins and needles for that phone call. And Dallan was a champ! I don't think I've ever seen him get that alert after napping that quickly before. The phone call turned into a second phone interview followed by more waiting. The good news is we are fairly certain he did well, and we are fairly certain we can expect another call next week. Do we really want to move to Utah?!? We've sort of always thought about it, but now it seems like a potential reality and I'm kind of nervous to really accept it. But only time will tell. We've learned before not to count chickens before they hatch.

Anyway, if you are still reading... the talks ended up going quite well, the girls were very well behaved for a family in our ward, better for them than for us! I really want to work out a deal with them because I really think we all benefitted from the meeting more today. They weren't screaming, so the congregation got more out of the meeting, we weren't mentally screaming so WE got more out of the meeting and the family they sat with has an 18 year old son who usually sleeps through sacrament meeting and playing with the girls was enough to keep him awake so HE got more technically out of the meeting. See how we all win in this situation. I just wish speaking didn't have to be a part of the equation. And let me just say, having to play the organ AND talk is a less than desirable calling. I felt like I was playing musical chairs! (no pun intended).

And now the day and week is over. And I get to look forward to celebrating a 4 year olds birthday, along with another week of swimming lessons and hopeful of more job news.

Garden Success

2009-06-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

We started our garden in February this year hoping to beat the heat. Near the end of march we started enjoying the fruits of our labors. First it was peas:
Then we started getting zucchini in April and have been having zucchini through our ears, making zucchini bread (the girls favorite), pasta with zucchini, zucchini casseroles... that has been a fun and HUGE success! We got to eat (well, Amelia ate) a handful of strawberries before they burnt in the heat. And today we finally harvested our corn! It wasn't much, but it turned out MUCH better than our corn last year because we got some! I was sad that it wasn't good corn on the cob eating's, but tonight we turned that beautiful home grown corn into some good homemade corn chowder. Wow, was it tasty! Talk about enjoying the fruits of our labors.

Now, come on watermelon...

Wrong Motive

2009-06-06T19:36:00.000-07:00

Oh, but it feels so right!!

We are on day 2 of potty training Lucy. Now, I was (and am) a big believer in just waiting until the child expresses interest to potty train. However, this time a different motive came along and I decided to run with it. It's called panties are cheaper than diapers. I know, its wrong of me, but it seems to be working (sort of...)!

Lucy has some friends who have started to potty train that are around the same age, we were running out of diapers, and she does ask all the time to sit on the potty, its just nothing has ever come of it. I'm too impatient to wait for her to do something interesting and most of the time I really don't want to take her diaper off when she requests to sit on the potty. She could be ready, right? Was it just me that wasn't ready for 6 months of long waits in the bathroom, bathroom stops every 10 minutes, cleaning up mess after mess and one load of laundry after the other? (Why did I want to do this again? Oh yeah, money...)

So yesterday she ran around pantless most of the day. We had two very successful attempts on the "tinkle bowl" as she has started calling it. The first came with a very surprised look on Lucy's face. I don't think she was expecting it. We basically drowned her in juice and water every time she wanted to sit on the toilet, and when she was successful she got a piece of chocolate. However the rest of the day we were cleaning up messes on the carpet and tile. So not a bad day one.

Today we spent the morning at a water park with some friends, so that really didn't count as training time, and then came home for a nap. So day two didn't really start until 3:00. This time she got to wear big girl pants around the house. Wow! She felt so big and proud, it was cute! And then the ah-ha moment hit. We had just sat down for dinner, soup and smoothie (both tinkle inducing...) and she had an accident in her chair. With her pants being wet she seemed rather surprised, we ran to the toilet but nothing more happened. So, we went back to the table. A few more sips of smoothie and I noticed Lucy look down at herself, I asked if she needed to use the potty and got a confirmation. SUCCESS!! Pants dry and tinkle in the toilet. The ah-ha moment finally came! She then went back to dinner and 10 minutes later, jumped out of her chair and said, "I need to go potty" so we ran and success again! Ah, maybe my motive won't be so wrong after all, she simply needed a nudge in the right direction. And a motivated mommy.

Free Summer Meals

2009-06-05T06:57:00.000-07:00

We learned this week of the school districts in the area serving free breakfast and lunch to children. "What a great idea!!" was the reaction I gave. At least for lunches, its a perfect way for me to get the girls a good lunch and save a few dollars while we are in this unemployment phase. So we went yesterday after our swimming lessons and the girls had lunch at the local high school. It wasn't much, and each plate probably only cost a little over a dollar of food, but the girls were fed and happy and it was surprisingly food they liked!

Now, I write this, one to recommend it to anyone looking for a little money saving this summer, and two because I was just reading some comments posted on the website listing the schools that are participating. Wow did it make my blood boil! Every one of them, it felt like they were casting stones. Probably every one of them employed and living in a cushy home, never having to think about penny pinching. It just brought to mind the story in the Bible where Jesus states to the crowd, "He who is without sin, cast the first stone".

Each comment complaining that THEY were paying for these LAZY children's parents to eat, and that the parents are ALL probably already on welfare assistance already where again THEY are paying for them to get more groceries than they need so why aren't the parents home making lunch and breakfast for their children since THEY have already paid for them to have groceries!! One comment after the other saying things like this!! Now, I admit the welfare program in this country could use a bit of help, it is very far from perfect. But I saw a girl I know, and know the family situation of, walking home yesterday from the high school, where I'm sure she was getting herself lunch because her parents were recently divorced and both are working. Who knows if she would have gotten a meal that afternoon if it weren't for this program. And who knows how many families are simply in our situation of not knowing when the next paycheck will be and just wanting to save some pennies and get their children some food.

Casting stones, that's all I have to say. Don't cast a stone about something until you have felt that desperation yourself, unless you yourself understand from ALL angles. Anyway, I just needed to vent about this because I for one am thankful for just the little help this gives to our family and many others this summer to save a dollar.

If you are interested and live in the East Valley, check out this website for a list of schools participating: Free School Lunches

Food Storage: Meal Planning

2009-06-04T13:32:00.000-07:00

My brother requested I share some of the knowledge we've gained about food storage from our great opportunities to use it. It got me totally excited to share about it!

About a year ago, I started taking seriously the council to have a 3 month supply of the things your family eats on a regular basis. Our pantry could maybe have held out 1 month of food before it was empty at that time, so I wasn't really sure how to go about things. Finally, with the help and experience of others I refined a system that works well for our family.

First, I created a menu of around 30 meals we make a lot, that also store well. ie: spaghetti, chili and corn bread, noodle casseroles and assorted rice meals are some that are on our menu.

Once I had the menu written up (and I did this in a spreadsheet) I listed next to each menu item the ingredients and the amount needed of each ingredient. This gave me an accurate shopping list and inventory check sheet for my pantry. I multiplied each of the 30 meals by 3 (to create 3 months worth) some meals that we make more I did more of, and those we eat once a month I stuck to just 3 times.

One example of this would be:

Meal: Beef Taco Skillet
Ingredients: Tortillas (can freeze or make out of flour, oil and water.)
Tomato Soup 1 can = 3 cans
Salsa 1/2 cup = 1 1/2 cups
Ground Beef 1/2 lb or 1 jar of canned beef = 1 1/2 lbs.
Cheese some (can also be frozen)

So I made my list and added things up and now I have an accurate list of what should be in my pantry to allow me to make 3 months worth of dinners for my family.

I always make sure I have a little of everything on hand. When I notice a good sale on a particular item I will buy either the whole 3 months worth of that item or a significant part of it depending on what the budget will allow.

Other tricks we've learned, there are powdered versions of a lot of different things. Dry milk, for example stores beautifully and works really well for cooking. My girls love things with syrup in the morning (I mean, what kid doesn't love things smothered with sugar?!!), so I always have enough sugar and a bottle of mapeline flavoring so we can make homemade syrup. (the dry milk is very helpful for pancakes, waffles and muffins.)

Powdered Sour Cream is something we recently learned about and it too works very well in casseroles and even stroganoff gravy! I know there are ways to store eggs and make egg substitute, but I have not yet ventured there. And then the basics of having flour (wheat and a wheat grinder make this go MUCH farther and make for tasty homemade bread products), sugar, some yeast in the freezer, and salt are also musts in that 3 month supply.

Just Keep Swimming

2009-06-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

When life gets you down, you know what you gotta do? Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming...
Dory has become our family mascot for this incredibly applicable to life saying. All we can do some days is just keep swimming.

Yesterday Dallan went to work only to find that his company, where he has been working for a very short 5 months, was struggling to meet their financial goals this quarter, so they decided to cut budget by cutting the most recent hires employment. Ugh! It came as a shock to both of us, but maybe because of our recent experience with this shock (only 9 months ago) we seem to be handling it much better. Although, no one likes to feel "dumped", and that's really what it feels like, we just keep telling ourselves to keep on swimming!

So I thought I'd seek out the positive things in all of this. Maybe I'm doing this to make myself feel better, but maybe also with a slight hope it will help others to see the positive things in their own trials, because they are always there:

1. Financially we are in a better state because of the frugality and savings lessons we learned the first time around.

2. We get a second chance to test our 3 month supply of food. (I mean, how many people get to TRULY refine their system with a second test run in a year?!)

3. Dallan gets a chance to refine his resume writing skills and interview skills once again. That's a possitive because there is character building that comes with this!

4. Our family gets another simple reminder that our lives are in God's hands, and we get a chance to act on faith.

5. Our testimony of tithing will be strengthened further.

6. We get to strengthen our family relationships by spending a lot more quality time at home as a family.

7. I'll get more opportunities to use my wheat grinder and pasta maker!

8. We are truly greatful we actually HAD a job for the last 5 months, and that we took care of many of the medical needs the family had while on insurance.

Well, there are more, but I hate to make my posts carry on too long. I just know that there is a reason for all things, even when things are hard. I also know we grew a LOT last time around and actually look forward to the growth and knowledge that will come this time around because of this trial. Maybe in the long run we won't look back on this as a trial either. Hopefully we'll be able to look back on it as a blessing in disguise.

Here's to counting all those MANY blessings!!

Rearranging Spaces

2009-05-21T19:42:00.000-07:00

This was my laundry room before today:

Not very pretty, was it. I have always struggled with organizing things in a functional way, so that it could stay clean. Thanks to my wonderful and amazing friend, she helped me create a plan for organization and this was the result of our planning:

It's not done, but I was so proud of how much cleaner it looked after an hour of cleaning today, I just had to brag. And all it took was rearranging space that already exsisted! Who knew!!

We also attacked the top of my fridge and counter space.
Before:

After:

All I can say is, YAY!!
(oh and you can just ignore the paper clutter on the fridge, it's next!)

The Campout

2009-05-12T19:00:00.000-07:00

Amelia wanted to have a camp-out in the backyard, and so Dallan (being the amazing father that he is!) started making plans with her for a Friday night camp-out. Although Lucy and I chose not to spend the night outdoors, we were invited to join in their evening fun.

The Dinner picnic (it had to have been 103 degrees outside BEFORE the fire!!)

The Tent

The Helpers

The best night ever!!

And for any doubters, this is where she slept ALL NIGHT LONG. And truly had the time of her life.

How to Get a Baby Brother

2009-05-09T20:42:00.000-07:00

1. Start praying to Heavenly Father to send you one.

2. Be REALLY good and REALLY obedient for your parents.

3. Stay in your own bed all night long

The result if you do this is about 50% of getting you a baby brother. At least, this is what was told to Amelia back in January by her daddy. I'll have you know, that girl immediately got to work on this list. I have never seen someone more diligent in their prayers on faithfully asking for something than I saw this little girl do those few months.

"Please bless us with a baby brother" was included in every prayer, morning and night, and was even inserted into other's prayers when they failed to mention it. I do not think she missed a single prayer for three months that did not have a sincere asking in it, for this. I even asked her at one point what she wanted for Christmas this year. I bet you can guess her response. Yup, it was "I just want a baby brother."

Well, I believe it was two months of listening to her pray for this that I decided to open my heart to the idea of a new baby. You know what that means, I immediately felt like it was time to invite another little spirit into our home. I had to twist Dallan's arm, but he finally agreed to this idea.

Within 2 weeks, I had a funny feeling that I just might be expecting. I thought, it must be all in my head. No one gets pregnant that quickly after coming off the pill. But sure enough, another 2 weeks went by, and all suspicions were confirmed!

Now, I am convinced that Amelia prayed this little spirit here. I have often felt that her faith is stronger than some, possibly a gift to her from our Heavenly Father. And the moment we told her that a baby was in my tummy, her prayers changed to immediate gratitude, thanking God for sending her a baby brother. I guess time will tell if a brother is really what God has in mind for our growing little family. So, boy or girl, Amelia is getting a baby for Christmas (around December 3rd, is what I'm told).

Can You Guess?

2009-05-06T14:49:00.000-07:00

The Totally Terrific Two's

2009-04-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

My baby turned two today. It has been an absolute joy to have Lucy in our family. She creates joy and love everywhere she goes. I wondered why it was that she and her sister seemed to have an instant bond, why from the day she was born Amelia (and everyone else) seemed to just love Lucy. It was my dad on his last visit here who said something like, "Lucy, you have the most pleasant and lovely countenance that just makes everyone feel so happy when they are around you." And it's true. Despite her strong willed and stubborn personality, she just radiates and attracts love. She can brighten my day with her smile, her hugs can simply melt your heart, she is truly a beautiful daughter of God, and we are truly grateful that she came to our family. Happy Birthday little Lulu!Licking the pudding beaters while waiting for sweedish pancakes can be a very hard thing.

What I Do For Fun

2009-04-04T19:04:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to be able to see this concert on youtube, I just had to share it. This is me!! This is what I do for fun on Thursday nights! I play with this small chamber group called the St. Stephen's Chamber Wind Ensemble. They play such fun, REAL music, some quite challenging, such as this piece: Hindemith's Septett for Winds. At first I thought it was a bunch of musical mush, but it completely grew on me as time went on. Absolutely amazing piece of music. This is just a group of musicians, some amateur and some professional, who all love to play wonderful music. I am greatful for my musical outlets, they help me to stay real. I hope you enjoy this very small portion of our concert. Oh, and see if you can pick out and name the theme in this piece that shows up in a recent Disney movie. (I am convinced it was taken straight from Hindemith!)

I even get to play English Horn!! Although, this is slightly more embarrassing because my EH skills aren't quite where I want them yet, it's still fun! Enjoy Arthur Bird's Serenade for Winds, mvmt. II.

Once There Was a Snowman

2009-04-01T19:33:00.000-07:00

What might have been a dreaded return of winter to most Utahan's, was taken as a great treat for my little girls. I mean, how could you NOT be excited to wake up to snow falling when all you know is sun, sun, and the occasional cloud. Yeah, this was totally a treat! And then it was nice to come back home to all that sun! :)

"Once there was a snow man, small, small, small."
Just leave it to an Arizonan to make a snowman out of trace amounts of snow.

Equestrian Uncles are Great!

2009-03-31T15:06:00.000-07:00

My brother Richard has been riding horses for over 10 years now, and is quite good at it. And every time we go to Utah, we have the fun opportunity to watch him ride. In preparing for this trip, Amelia REALLY wanted to ride one of Richard's horses and talked about it A LOT! She loves to hear about his horses, loves to watch him and talks about him with great admiration. In a lot of ways, I think Uncle Richard is one of Amelia's heroes. Both of them have such a great love for animals and it seems to have formed a special bond between the two of them. This was definitely a highlight of our trip.

This is Amelia, riding alongside her uncle on a VERY big horse

Lucy participated in the fun, too. I really didn't think she'd get on a horse, but these horses are truly magical, and Lucy was instantly grinning ear to ear.

How do YOU measure up?

2009-03-30T22:32:00.000-07:00

These were just some of the very interesting birds we saw at the Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City. One seemed very graceful, however the other seemed a bit flighty. Glad we caught a picture of these rare and beautiful birds!

Duck Hunt

2009-03-30T14:26:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite things to do is go and feed the ducks. Grandpa especially likes this activity because it allows some good photographing opportunities of the birds. Well, Lulu brought an interesting challenge to his photography, because it was WAY too much fun to chase the ducks around than to quietly sit and feed them bread. She REALLY stirred things up at this pond! So much fun!

The Foot Book

2009-03-29T22:20:00.000-07:00

On our recent trip to Utah, the girls acquired a new favorite book at Grandpa's house, "The Foot Book" by Dr. Seuss. The best part was, Grandpa actually acted the book out. We had "feet in the air" and "over the chair feet". Left foot, left foot, left foot, RIGHT!

Family Fun Nite

2009-03-09T21:56:00.000-07:00

Our friend Ashlyn turned 5 yesterday, and for her birthday invited us to Xtreme play with her and her family for Monday, family fun night.

So family fun night it was! The girls bounced themselves silly, and you often found Lucy rambling to herself, "my bouncy castle..." I have to brag for a moment, Lucy conquered quite the feat tonight in climbing up the "big kid" ladders to reach the "big kid" slides. They had a specific boucing area designated for those 3 and under. Yeah, it lasted for Lucy about 5 minutes. All the other kids were having a blast on the big slides and leaving her out. Yeah, right!! The problem was, they all had these steep climbing walls, with nothing to hold onto but some wobbly blocks to climb up. The other challenge, parents were not allowed to enter the bouncy castles. So here I am watching my 2 year old, for 15 minutes try to scale a wall, fall off and try again. It took Dallan covering my mouth and restraining me from calling for help for her. I am grateful I have a partner in this adventure of parenting who can recognize growth moments for our children and can tell me to back off. After 15 minutes of determination and little progress, she persisted and conquered, and then spent the rest of the nights with the big kids. I was the proudest mom in bouncy castle heaven tonight! She held up traffic, but gained many adoring fans. Amelia also made me proud and watched out for her baby sister and helped her when needed. It was, in Amelia's words, "the best night EVER!"

Warning Label

2009-03-09T21:12:00.000-07:00

I've often thought parenthood should come with a few warning labels, such as:

CAUTION: Side affects include drowsiness, loss of sleep and crankiness

or,

CAUTION: Children may seem broken at times, especially in their ears, and may erupt in random loud shrieks, but don't worry. This is normal.

Well, today's warning is that of health.

CAUTION: Children may inflict serious injuries on their parents.
It's a good thing they're so cute that we can throw all caution to the wind.

Besides, it's a whole lot of fun to tell stories when people see my black eye. The truth, a really hard head and a really hard-head butting two year old.

Stake Conference

2009-03-01T11:26:00.000-08:00

This weekend was the Mesa South's stake conference, and guess who was asked to play the organ for this morning? Me! I thought for sure I would have gotten out of it, because just last November our ward was in charge of the music provided for the Regional conference. Somehow we drew the short straw again, and were asked to do it AGAIN. But you know what the advantage to doing it twice in a row is? The second time was far less nerve racking.

Now, in our stake center it has always bothered me at large functions that you just could not hear the organ while you were singing. Especially if you are sitting in the metal chairs all the way in the back, so 4 or 5 different tempos start going and its just a mess. So I decided, no matter what, all the stops were going to be pulled, within reason of course. And as I looked at the hymn choices of "Come, Come ye Saints", and "Scatter Sunshine" and "Hark all Ye Nations", I thought these are all very upbeat hymns, so a big full organ sound should accompany it quite nicely.

Well, I pulled all the stops and do you know what I learned afterward? The people in the back COULD hear the organ, so much so that some noticed that there were 3 beats instead of 4 in some of the measures of Come Come ye Saints, and even the Stake Presidency commented, "I've never heard this organ played with so much force".

Maybe I overdid it, but you know what? The people sang, and sang with feeling. The spirit was so strong that it near brought me to tears. I believe that through the power of the hymns, testimonies are born and strengthened. I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to play, not once, but twice in such a spiritual setting. I have felt angels carry the music of the organ and move my fingers and feet so that the spirit could be present in a meeting. I thank God, with all my heart, for the gift of music which has played such an important part of my life.

A New Name

2009-02-21T18:03:00.000-08:00

This blog is officially being renamed, by order of the Simper family council, to be:

"Enjoying Life's Simper Moments"

Content will still be added primarily by Stephanie, as her loving counterpart will have no part in letting other people know his business, and will still feature on a regular basis, Lulu and Bedelia, as they are the most enjoyable of the Simper moments.

Hope you will continue to read and enjoy our "Simper Moments".

Scrapping with Photoshop Elements

2009-02-21T11:39:00.000-08:00

I've had an interest in digital scrapbooking for a long time now, liking the idea of clean and easy scrapbooking and journal keeping. Since having kids I have enjoyed doing my journal via pictures and captions, so scrapbooking was totally for me. However, children also prevented me from getting out my box of papers and pens and cutters because it became more of a game of keep away than actual scrapbooking.

For a while, I was testing the waters of digital scrapbooking using my husbands Windows/PC computer and using a free software online called ScrabookFlair. It was free to download and had lots of free papers and embellishments. Dallan was constantly telling me that I could do way better using photoshop, but during that time I was content playing with stuff that already exisisted and told me what to do. So ScrapbookFlair worked. Here are a couple of good examples of what I was able to create with downloads from ScrapbookFlair:

This page I used in our family album f0r 2007, and printed an 8 X 10 book through WinkFlash, 100 page project costing $20.

This page I was created while working on a project for my Grandma, using old photos from her childhood.

During the project for my Grandma, I believe I overwhelmed my computer's memory and the computer died mid-project. Luckily all my information was retrievable, a benefit of having a computer savvy husband, but the computer was beyond repair. So then we came back to conversations about Photoshop Elements being the right software for me. This led to conversations about new computers and eventually led us to the Apple store where I bought a Mac, and Photoshop Elements.

I thought I'd for sure be able to finish my project now, no problem! Open up Elements and I had NO CLUE how anything worked. It looked nothing like the photoshop I remember playing with back in the 90's. So again, I felt stuck. Just last month I came across a website, The Scrapper's Guide, created by Linda Sattgast which claimed to have all the answers I was looking for. Even Photoshop Elements was promoting this woman and her tutorial videos to learn Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. It seemed for a week, everywhere I turned I was running into her name with rave reviews. So I went ahead and bought her software to "Learn Digital Scrapbooking." I just finished the lessons this week, and let me tell you, I'll add to those rave reviews! This was exactly what I needed, it was clear and concise and she breaks the lessons up into little sections, so when I'm playing around with Elements and run into a snag, I can look up a particular video an instantly find the answers I'm looking for.

Long story short, my first official experiment with Elements on my own was the Header used on this blog. I played with it for a couple hours last night trying out the things that I learned. I also played around with a Quick Album from The Scrapper's Guide website to learn some techniques. Here is one of the pages from the album I created using their "Rule My World" kit:

Anyway, lots of fun! I highly recommend Linda's software and resources to anyone who is serious about scrapbook or design using Photoshop. I'm excited to see what I'll create next!

Moody Mom

2009-02-16T21:13:00.000-08:00

What do you do when your 3 year old has begun to pray that you won't get mad at them anymore? And what do you do when you're nearing the end of the day and your 3 year old says, looking you right in the eyes, "mom, you need to have more good days." It makes me feel like a terrible mother, is what it does! I know I'm not (at least not all the time), but boy the guilt is being layered on pretty thick with this one.

Every day feels new with my 3 year old, because I've never had a 3 year old before! She's my first, so everything we do is a first. Sometimes that newness is exciting and I love to see her create and invent and tell the most amazing stories, but other days I simply feel overwhelmed by the newness of everything with her. She's growing and learning SO fast, and her understanding of things grows as well. How do I keep up? How do other moms do everything from housecleaning to individual time with multiple children and how ON EARTH do other mom's not yell and kick and scream to be heard?! Are your children just better listeners than mine, are you just experts in patience and I have yet to acquire any?

The other day I had a wonderful conversation with my own mother which led to some wonderful words of wisdom and thus followed a few very positive days with my daughter. Then the weekend hit, routine went out the window and I am back to square one, yelling, kicking and screaming my way into control. It's REALLY not working. I know there are mom's out there who are more experienced than I am and are just waiting to share their wisdom with me so I can be the nice and organized and fun mom, rather than the disorganized, mean mom that yells a lot.

Ugh. Here's praying for a better day tomorrow.

Monkeys

2009-02-04T12:41:00.000-08:00

The Five Little Monkeys.

Reading: Lucy

Background noise: Big Sister